Central London Railway
Encyclopedia
The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railway that opened in London
in 1900. Today, the CLR's tunnels and stations form the central section of the London Underground
's Central line
.
The railway company was established in 1889, funding for construction was obtained in 1895 through a syndicate of financiers and work took place from 1896 to 1900. When opened, the CLR served 13 stations and ran completely underground in a pair of tunnels for 9.14 kilometres (5.68 mi) between its western terminus at Shepherd's Bush
and its eastern terminus at the Bank of England
, with a depot and power station to the north of the western terminus. After a rejected proposal to turn the line into a loop, it was extended at the western end to Wood Lane
in 1908 and at the eastern end to Liverpool Street station
in 1912. In 1920, it was extended along a Great Western Railway
line to Ealing
to serve a total distance of 17.57 kilometres (10.92 mi).
After initially making good returns for investors, the CLR suffered a decline in passenger numbers due to increased competition from other underground railway lines and new motorised buses. In 1913, it was taken over by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL), operator of the majority of London's underground railways. In 1933 the CLR was taken into public ownership along with the UERL.
that would be presented to Parliament
for the 1890 parliamentary session
. The bill proposed an underground electric railway running from the junction of Queen's Road (now Queensway
) and Bayswater Road
in Bayswater
to King William Street
in the City of London
with a connection to the then-under construction, City and South London Railway (C&SLR) at Arthur Street West. The CLR was to run in a pair of tunnels under Bayswater Road, Oxford Street
, New Oxford Street
, High Holborn
, Holborn, Holborn Viaduct
, Newgate Street
, Cheapside
, and Poultry. Stations were planned at Queen's Road, Stanhope Terrace, Marble Arch
, Oxford Circus
, Tottenham Court Road
, Southampton Row
, Holborn Circus
, St. Martin's Le Grand
and King William Street.
The tunnels were to be 11 feet (3.35 m) in diameter, constructed with a tunnelling shield
, and would be lined with cast iron segments. At stations, the tunnel diameter would be 22 feet (6.71 m) or 29 feet (8.84 m) depending on layout. A depot and power station were to be constructed on a 1.5 acre (0.607029 ha) site on the west side of Queen's Road. Hydraulic lifts from the street to the platforms were to be provided at each station.
The proposals faced strong objections from the Metropolitan
and Metropolitan District
Railways (MR and MDR) whose routes on the Inner Circle,The Inner Circle (now the Circle line) was a sub-surface loop line operated jointly by the MR and the MDR. to the north and the south respectively, the CLR route parallelled; and from which the new line was expected to take passengers. The City Corporation also objected, concerned about potential damage to buildings close to the route caused by subsidence
as was experienced during the construction of the C&SLR. The Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral
objected, concerned about the risks of undermining the cathedral's foundations. Sir Joseph Bazalgette
objected that the tunnels would damage the city's sewer system. The bill was approved by the House of Commons, but was rejected by the House of Lords
, which recommended that any decision be postponed until after the C&SLR had opened and its operation could be assessed.
In November 1890, with the C&SLR about to start operating, the CLR announced a new bill for the 1891 parliamentary session. The route was extended at the western end to run under Notting Hill High Street (now Notting Hill Gate
) and Holland Park Avenue
to end at the eastern corner of Shepherd's Bush Green
, with the depot and power station site relocated to be north of the terminus on the east side of Wood Lane
. The westward extension of the route was inspired by the route of abandoned plans for the London Central Subway, a sub-surface railway that was briefly proposed in early 1890 to run directly below the roadway on a similar route to the CLR. The eastern terminus was changed to Cornhill and the proposed Southampton Row station was replaced by one in Bloomsbury
. Intermediate stations were added at Lansdowne Road, Notting Hill Gate
, Davies Street (which the CLR planned to extend northwards to meet Oxford Street) and at Chancery Lane
. The earlier plan to connect to the C&SLR was dropped and the diameter of the CLR's tunnels was increased to 11 in 6 in (3.51 m). This time the bill was approved by both Houses of Parliament and received Royal Assent
on 1891 as the Central London Railway Act, 1891. In November 1891, the CLR publicised another bill. The eastern end of the line was re-routed north-east and extended to end under the Great Eastern Railway's
(GER's) terminus at Liverpool Street station
with the Cornhill terminus dropped and a new station proposed at the Royal Exchange. The proposals received assent as the Central London Railway Act, 1892 on 1892.
The money to build the CLR was obtained through a syndicate of financiers including Ernest Cassel
, Henry Oppenheim, Darius Ogden Mills
, and members of the Rothschild family
. On 1894, the syndicate incorporated a contractor to construct the railway, the Electric Traction Company Limited (ETCL), which agreed a construction cost of £2,544,000 (approximately £ today) plus £700,000 in 4 per cent debenture stock. When the syndicate offered 285,000 CLR company shares
for sale at £10 each in June 1895, only 14 per cent was bought by the British public, which was cautious of such investments following failures of similar railway schemes. Some shares were sold in Europe and the United States, but the unsold remainder was bought by members of the syndicate or by the ETCL.
, Sir John Fowler, and Sir Benjamin Baker. Greathead had been the engineer for the Tower Subway
and the C&SLR, and had developed the tunnelling shield
used to excavate those companies' tunnels under the River Thames
. Fowler had been the engineer on the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway opened in 1863, and Baker had worked on New York's elevated railways and on the Forth Railway Bridge with Fowler. Greathead died shortly after work began and was replaced by Basil Mott
, his assistant during the construction of the C&SLR.
Like most legislation of its kind, the act of 1891 imposed a time limit for the compulsory purchase
of land and the raising of capital.Time limits were included in such legislation to encourage the railway company to complete the construction of its line as quickly as possible. They also prevented unused permissions acting as an indefinite block to other proposals. The original date specified for completion of construction was the end of 1896, but the time required to raise the finance and purchase station sites meant that construction had not begun by the start of that year. To give itself extra time, the CLR had obtained an extension of time to 1899 by the Central London Railway Act, 1894. Construction works were let by the ETCL as three sub-contracts: Shepherd's Bush to Marble Arch, Marble Arch to St Martin's Le Grand and St Martin's Le Grand to Bank. Work began with demolition of buildings at the Chancery Lane site in April 1896 and construction shafts were started at Chancery Lane, Shepherd's Bush, Stanhope Terrace and Bloomsbury in August and September 1896.
Negotiations with the GER for the works under Liverpool Street station were unsuccessful, and the final section beyond Bank was only constructed for a short distance as sidings. To minimise the risk of subsidence, the routing of the tunnels followed the roads on the surface and avoided passing under buildings. Usually the tunnels were bored side by side 60–110 ft (18.3–33.5 m) below the surface, but where a road was too narrow to allow this, the tunnels were aligned one above the other, so that a number of stations have platforms at different levels. To assist with the deceleration of trains arriving at stations and the acceleration of trains leaving, station tunnels were located at the tops of slight inclines.
Tunnelling was completed by the end of 1898, and, because a planned concrete lining to the cast iron tunnel rings was not installed, the internal diameter of the tunnels was generally 11 foot. For Bank station, the CLR negotiated permission with the City Corporation to construct its ticket hall beneath a steel framework under the roadway and pavements at the junction of Threadneedle Street
and Cornhill. This involved diverting pipework and cables into ducts beneath the subways linking the ticket hall to the street. Delays on this work were so costly that they nearly bankrupted the company. A further extension of time to 1900 was obtained through the Central London Railway Act, 1899.
Apart from Bank, which was completely below ground, all stations had buildings designed by Harry Bell Measures
. They were single-storey structures to allow for future commercial development above and had elevations faced in beige terracotta
. Each station had lifts
manufactured by the Sprague Electric Company
in New York. The lifts were provided in a variety of sizes and configurations to suit the passenger flow at each station. Generally they operated in sets of two or three in a shared shaft. Station tunnel walls were finished in plain white ceramic tiles and lit by electric arc lamps. The electricity to run the trains and the stations was supplied from the power station at Wood Lane at 5,000V
AC
which was converted at sub-stations
along the route to 550V DC
to power the trains via a third rail
system.
took place on 1900, one day before the time limit of the 1899 Act, although the line did not open to the public until 1900. The railway had stations at:
The CLR charged a flat fare of two pence
for a journey between any two stations, leading the Daily Mail
to give the railway the nickname of the Twopenny Tube in August 1900. The service was very popular, and, by the end of 1900, the railway had carried 14,916,922 passengers. By attracting passengers from the bus services along its route and from the slower, steam-hauled, MR and MDR services, the CLR achieved passenger numbers around per year in the first few years of operation, generating a high turnover
that was more than twice the expenses. From 1900 to 1905, the company paid a dividend
of 4 per cent to investors.
rejected this proposal and a larger locomotive was designed which was able to pull up to seven carriages on its own. Twenty-eight locomotives were manufactured in America by the General Electric Company
(of which syndicate member Darius Ogden Mills was a director) and assembled in the Wood Lane depot. A fleet of 168 carriages
was manufactured by the Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company
and the Brush Electrical Engineering Company
. Passengers boarded and left the trains through folding lattice gates at each end of the carriages; these gates were operated by guards who rode on an outside platform. The CLR had originally intended to have two classes of travel, but dropped the plan before opening, although its carriages were built with different qualities of interior fittings for this purpose.
Soon after the railway opened, complaints about vibrations from passing trains began to be made by occupiers of buildings along the route. The vibrations were caused by the heavy, largely unsprung locomotives which weighed 44 tons
(44.7 tonne
s). The Board of Trade set up a committee to investigate the problem, and the CLR experimented with two solutions. For the first solution, three locomotives were modified to use lighter motors and were provided with improved suspension, so the weight was reduced to 31 tons (31.5 tonnes), more of which was sprung to reduce vibrations; for the second solution, two six-carriage trains were formed that had the two end carriages converted and provided with driver's cabs and their own motors so they could run as multiple units
without a separate locomotive. The lighter locomotives did reduce the vibrations felt at the surface, but the multiple units removed it almost completely and the CLR chose to adopt that solution. The committee's report, published in 1902, also found that the CLR's choice of 100 lb
/yard (49.60 kg/m) bridge rail
for its tracks rather than a stiffer bullhead rail on cross sleepers
contributed to the vibration.
Following the report, the CLR purchased 64 driving motor carriages for use with the existing stock; together, these were formed into six- or seven-carriage trains. The change to multiple unit operation was completed by June 1903 and all but two of the locomotives were scrapped. Those two were retained for shunting use in the depot.
and returning to Threadneedle Street. The estimated cost of the loops was £800,000 (approximately £ today), most of which was for the eastern loop with its costly wayleaves.
The CLR bill was one of more than a dozen tube railway bills submitted to Parliament for the 1901 session, To review the bills on an equal basis, Parliament established a joint committee under Lord Windsor
, but by the time the committee had produced its report, the parliamentary session was almost over and the promoters of the bills were asked to resubmit them for the following 1902 session. Among the committee's recommendations were the withdrawal of the CLR's City loop, and that a quick, tube route from Hammersmith
to the City of London would benefit London's commuters.The MR and the MDR both offered services from Hammersmith to the City of London. The MR route ran via Paddington and the northern section of the Inner Circle and the MDR route ran via Earl's Court and the southern section of the Inner Circle. The steam-hauled trains were slow and suffered from having to compete for track space in timetables crowded with services from the companies' other routes. The prospect of quick electric tube trains offered an attractive alternative.
(L&SWR) all had stations at Hammersmith, although the L&SWR's closed in 1916.
From Hammersmith, the CLR's route was to turn eastwards and run under Hammersmith Road and Kensington High Street
with interchange stations at the MDR's Addison Road
(now Kensington Olympia) and High Street Kensington
stations. From Kensington High Street, the route was to run along the south side of Kensington Gardens
beneath Kensington Road
, Kensington Gore
and Knightsbridge
. Stations were to be constructed at the Royal Albert Hall
and the junction of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street
, where the Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway
(B&PCR) already had permission to build a station
. From Sloane Street, the CLR's proposed route ran below that approved for the B&PCR under the eastern portion of Knightsbridge, under Hyde Park Corner
and along Piccadilly
to Piccadilly Circus
. At Hyde Park Corner, a CLR station was to be sited close to the B&PCR's station
and the CLR's next station at St James's Street was a short distance to the east of the B&PCR's planned Dover Street station
. At Piccadilly Circus, the CLR planned an interchange with the partially completed station
of the stalled Baker Street and Waterloo Railway
. The CLR route was then to turn south-east beneath Leicester Square
to a station at Charing Cross
and then north-east under Strand
to Norfolk Street to interchange with the planned terminus
of the Great Northern & Strand Railway
.
The route was then to continue east under Fleet Street
to Ludgate Circus
for an interchange with the South Eastern and Chatham Railway
's (SECR's) Ludgate Hill station
, then south under New Bridge Street, and east into Queen Victoria Street
where a station was planned to connect to the Metropolitan District Railway's Mansion House station
. The route was then to continue under Queen Victoria Street to reach the CLR's station at Bank, where separate platforms below the existing ones were to be provided. The final section of the route developed on the proposed loop from the year before with tunnels winding under the City's narrow, twisting streets. The tunnels were to run east, one below the other, beneath Cornhill and Leadenhall Street
, north under St Mary Axe
and west to Liverpool Street station, then south under Blomfield Street, east under Great Winchester Street, south under Austin Friars and Old Broad Street and west under Threadneedle Street where the tunnels were to connect with the existing sidings back into Bank. Two stations were to be provided on the loop; at the south end of St Mary Axe and at Liverpool Street station. To accommodate the additional rolling stock needed to operate the longer line, the depot was to be extended northwards. The power station was also to be enlarged to increase the electricity supply. The CLR estimated that its plan would cost £3,781,000 (approximately £ today): £2,110,000 for construction, £873,000 for land and £798,000 for electrical equipment and trains.
The CLR bill was one of many presented for the 1902 parliamentary session (including several for the Hammersmith to City route) and it was examined by another joint committee under Lord Windsor. The proposal received support from the mainline railway companies the route interchanged with and from the C&SLR, which had a station at Bank. The London County Council
and the City Corporation also supported the plan. The Metropolitan Railway opposed, seeing further competition to its services on the Inner Circle. Questions were raised in Parliament about the safety of tunnelling so close to the vaults of many City banks and the risk that subsidence might cause vault doors to jam shut. Another concern was the danger of undermining the foundations of the Dutch Church
in Austin Friars. The Windsor committee rejected the section between Shepherd's Bush and Bank, preferring a competing route from the J. P. Morgan
-backed Piccadilly, City and North East London Railway
(PC&NELR). Without the main part of its new route, the CLR withdrew the City loop, leaving a few improvements to the existing line to be approved in the Central London Railway Act, 1902 on 1902..
In late 1902, the PC&NELR plans collapsed after a falling out between the scheme's promoters led to a crucial part of the planned route coming under the control of a rival, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL), which withdrew it from parliamentary consideration. With the PC&NELR scheme out of the way, the CLR resubmitted its bill in 1903, although consideration was again held up by Parliament's establishment of a Royal Commission
on London Traffic tasked to assess the manner in which transport in London should be developed. While the Commission deliberated, any review of bills for new lines and extensions was postponed, so the CLR withdrew the bill. The CLR briefly re-presented the bill for the 1905 parliamentary session but withdrew it again, before making an agreement with the UERL in October 1905 that neither company would submit a bill for an east–west route in 1906. The plan was then dropped as the new trains with driving positions at both ends made it possible for the CLR to reduce the minimum interval between trains to two minutes without building the loop.
signed by France and Britain in 1904. The location of the Franco-British Exhibition
's White City
site was across Wood Lane from the CLR's depot. To exploit the opportunity to carry visitors to the exhibition, the CLR announced a bill in November 1906 seeking to create a loop from Shepherd's Bush station and back, on which a new Wood Lane station
close to the exhibition's entrance would be built. The new work was approved on 1907 in the Central London Railway Act, 1907.
The new loop was formed by constructing a section of tunnel joining the end of the dead-end reversing tunnel to the west of Shepherd's Bush station and the north side of the depot. From Shepherd's Bush, trains ran anti-clockwise around the single track loop, first through the original depot access tunnel, then passed the north side of the depot and through the new station before entering the new section of tunnel and returning to Shepherd's Bush. Changes were also made to the depot layout to accommodate the new station and the new looped operations. Construction work on the exhibition site had started in January 1907, and the exhibition and new station opened on 1908. The station was on the surface between the two tunnel openings and was a basic design by Harry Bell Measures. It had platforms both sides of the curving track – passengers alighted on to one and boarded from the other.
in 1911, the station was the first underground station in London to be built with escalators. Four were provided, two to Liverpool Street station and two to the North London Railway's
adjacent Broad Street station.
(GWR) had obtained parliamentary approval to construct the Ealing and Shepherd's Bush Railway (E&SBR), connecting its main line route at Ealing Broadway
to the West London Railway
(WLR) north of Shepherd's Bush. From Ealing, the new line was to curve north-east through still mostly rural North Acton
, then run east for a short distance parallel with the GWR's High Wycombe
line, before curving south-east. The line was then to run on an embankment south of Old Oak Common
and Wormwood Scrubs
before connecting to the WLR a short distance to the north of the CLR's depot.
Construction work did not begin immediately, and, in 1911, the CLR and GWR agreed running powers for CLR services over the line to Ealing Broadway. To make a connection to the E&SBR, the CLR obtained parliamentary permission for a short extension northward from Wood Lane station on 1911 in the Central London Railway Act, 1911. The new E&SBR line was constructed by the GWR and opened as a steam-hauled freight only line on 1917. Electrification of the track and the start of CLR services were postponed until after the end of World War I, not starting until 1920 when a single intermediate station at East Acton
was also opened.
Wood Lane station was modified and extended to accommodate the northward extension tracks linking to the E&SBR. The existing platforms on the loop were retained, continuing to be used by trains that were turning back to central London, and two new platforms for trains running to or from Ealing were constructed at a lower level on the new tracks, which connected to each side of the loop. Ealing Broadway station was modified to provide additional platforms for CLR use between the existing but separate sets of platforms used by the GWR and the MDR.
To provide services over the 6.97 kilometres (4.3 mi) extension, the CLR ordered 24 additional driving motor carriages from the Brush Company, which, when delivered in 1917, were first borrowed by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway for use in place of carriages ordered for its extension to Watford Junction. The new carriages were the first for tube-sized trains that were fully enclosed, without gated platforms at the rear, and were provided with hinged doors in the sides to speed-up passenger loading times. To operate with the new stock the CLR converted 48 existing carriages, providing a total of 72 carriages for twelve six-car trains. Modifications made while in use on the Watford extension meant that the new carriages were not compatible with the rest of the CLR's fleet and they became known as the Ealing stock
.
The E&SBR remained part of the GWR until nationalisation at the beginning of 1948, when (with the exception of Ealing Broadway station) it was transferred to the London Transport Executive
. Ealing Broadway remained part of British Railways, as successors to the GWR.
(L&SWR's) Gunnersbury station
. Here a connection would be made to allow the CLR's tube trains to run south-west to Richmond station
over L&SWR tracks that the MDR shared and had electrified in 1905. Stations were planned on Goldhawk Road at its junctions with The Grove, Paddenswick Road and Rylett Road, at Emlyn Road on Stamford Brook Road, at Turnham Green Terrace (for a connection with the L&SWR's/MDR's Turnham Green station
) and at the junction of Chiswick High Road and Heathfield Terrace. Beyond Richmond, the CLR saw further opportunities to continue over L&SWR tracks to the commuter towns of Twickenham
, Sunbury
and Shepperton
, although this required the tracks to be electrified. The CLR received permission for the new line to Gunnersbury on 1913 in the Central London Railway Act, 1913, but World War I prevented the works from commencing and the permission expired.
In November 1919, the CLR published a new bill to revive the Richmond extension, but using a different route that required only a short section of new tunnel construction. The new proposal was to construct tunnels southwards from Shepherd's Bush station, which would come to the surface to connect to disused L&SWR tracks north of Hammersmith Grove Road station that had closed in 1916. From Hammersmith, the disused LS&WR tracks continued westwards, on the same viaduct as the MDR's tracks through Turnham Green to Gunnersbury and Richmond. The plan required electrification of the disused tracks, but avoided the need for costly tunnelling and would have shared the existing stations on the route with the MDR. The plan received assent on 1920 as part of the Central London and Metropolitan District Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1920, although the CLR made no attempt to carry out any of the work. The disused L&SWR tracks between Ravenscourt Park
and Turnham Green were eventually used for the westward extension of the Piccadilly line
from Hammersmith in 1932.
(GNP&BR) which opened its rival route to Hammersmith in 1906. Road traffic also offered a greater challenge as motor buses began replacing the horse drawn variety in greater numbers. In an attempt to maintain income, the company increased the flat fare for longer journeys to three pence in July 1907 and reduced the fare for shorter journeys to one penny in March 1909. Multiple booklets of tickets, which had previously been sold at face value
, were offered at discounts, and season tickets were introduced from July 1911.
The CLR looked to economise through the use of technological developments. The introduction in 1909 of dead-man's handles to the driver controls and "trip cocks
" devices on signals and trains meant that the assistant driver was no longer required as a safety measure. Signalling automation allowed the closure of many of the line's 16 signal boxes and a reduction in signalling staff. From 1911, the CLR operated a parcel service, making modifications to the driving cars of four trains to provide a compartment in which parcels could be sorted. These were collected at each station and distributed to their destinations by a team of tricycle riding delivery boys. The service made a small profit, but ended in 1917 because of wartime labour shortages.
The problem of declining revenues was not limited to the CLR; all of London's tube lines and the sub-surface MDR and MR were affected by competition to some degree. The reduced income from the lower passenger numbers made it difficult for the companies to pay back borrowed capital, or to pay dividends to shareholders. The CLR's dividend payments fell to 3 per cent from 1905, but those of the UERL's lines were as low as 0.75 per cent. From 1907, the CLR, the UERL, the C&SLR, and the Great Northern & City Railway companies began to introduce fare agreements. From 1908, they began to present themselves through common branding as the Underground. In November 1912, after secret take-over talks, the UERL announced that it was purchasing the CLR, swapping one of its own shares for each of the CLR's. The take-over took effect on 1913, although the CLR company remained legally separate from the UERL's other tube lines.
in Chelsea. Busier stations were modernised; Bank and Shepherd's Bush stations received escalators in 1924, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus in 1925 and Bond Street in 1926, which also received a new entrance designed by Charles Holden
. Chancery Lane and Marble Arch stations were also rebuilt to receive escalators in the early 1930s.
On 5 November 1923 new stations were opened on the Ealing extension at North Acton
and West Acton
. They were built to serve residential and industrial developments around Park Royal
and, like East Acton, the station buildings were basic structures with simple timber shelters on the platforms. The poor location of British Museum station and the lack of an interchange with the GNP&BR's station at Holborn had been a considered a problem by the CLR almost since the opening of the GNP&BR in 1906. A pedestrian subway to link the stations was considered in 1907, but not carried out. A proposal to enlarge the tunnels under High Holborn to create new platforms at Holborn station for the CLR and to abandon British Museum station was included in a CLR bill submitted to parliament in November 1913. This was given assent in 1914, but World War I prevented any works taking place, and it was not until 1930 that the UERL revived the powers and began construction work. The new platforms, along with a new ticket hall and escalators to both lines, opened on 1933, British Museum station having closed at the end of traffic the day before.
Between March 1926 and September 1928, the CLR converted the remaining gate stock carriages in phases. The end platforms were enclosed to provide additional passenger accommodation and two sliding doors were inserting in each side. The conversions increased capacity and allowed the CLR to remove gatemen from the train crews, with responsibility for controlling doors moving to the two guards who each managed half the train. Finally, the introduction of driver/guard communications in 1928 allowed the CLR to dispense with the second guard, reducing a train crew to just a driver and a guard. The addition of doors in the sides of cars caused problems at Wood Lane where the length of the platform on the inside of the returning curve was limited by an adjacent access track into the depot. The problem was solved by the introduction of a pivoted section of platform which usually sat above the access track and allowed passengers to board trains as normal, but which could be moved to allow access to the depot.
(LGOC) since 1912 had enabled the UERL group, through the pooling of revenues, to use profits from the bus company to subsidise the less profitable railways. However, competition from numerous small bus companies during the early 1920s eroded the profitability of the LGOC and had a negative impact on the profitability of the whole UERL group.
To protect the UERL group's income, its chairman Lord Ashfield
lobbied the government for regulation of transport services in the London area. Starting in 1923, a series of legislative initiatives were made in this direction, with Ashfield and Labour
London County Councillor (later MP and Minister of Transport) Herbert Morrison
, at the forefront of debates as to the level of regulation and public control under which transport services should be brought. Ashfield aimed for regulation that would give the UERL group protection from competition and allow it to take substantive control of the LCC's
tram system; Morrison preferred full public ownership. After seven years of false starts, a bill was announced at the end of 1930 for the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board
(LPTB), a public corporation that would take control of the UERL, the MR and all bus and tram operators within an area designated as the London Passenger Transport Area. The Board was a compromise – public ownership but not full nationalisation – and came into existence on 1933. On this date, ownership of the assets of the CLR and the other Underground companies transferred to the LPTB.
In 1935 the LPTB announced plans as part of its New Works Programme
to extend the CLR at both ends by taking over and electrifying local routes owned by the GWR in Middlesex
and Buckinghamshire
and by the LNER in east London and Essex
. Work in the tunnels to lengthen platforms for longer trains and to correct misaligned tunnel sections that slowed running speeds was also carried out. A new station was planned to replace the cramped Wood Lane. The service from North Acton through Greenford
and Ruislip
to Denham
was due to open between January 1940 and March 1941. The eastern extension from Liverpool Street to Stratford
, Leyton
and Newbury Park
and the connection to the LNER lines to Hainault
, Epping
and Ongar were intended to open in 1940 and 1941. World War II caused works on both extensions to be halted and London Underground services were extended in stages from 1946 to 1949, although the final section from West Ruislip to Denham was cancelled. Following the LPTB take over, the Harry Beck
-designed tube map began to show the route's name as the "Central London Line" instead of "Central London Railway". In anticipation of the extensions taking its services far beyond the boundaries of the County of London
, "London" was omitted from the name on 1937; thereafter it was simply the "Central Line". Today the CLR's original tunnels form the core of the Central line's 72.17 kilometres (44.8 mi) route.
During World War II, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) of completed tube tunnels built for the eastern extension between Gants Hill
and Redbridge
were used as a factory by Plessey
to manufacture electronic parts for aircraft. Other completed tunnels were used as air-raid shelter
s at Liverpool Street, Bethnal Green
and between Stratford and Leyton, as were the closed parts of British Museum station At Chancery Lane, new tunnels 16 in 6 in (5.03 m) in diameter and 1200 feet (365.8 m) long were constructed below the running tunnels during 1941 and early 1942. These were fitted out as a deep level shelter
for government use as a protected communications centre. Work on a similar shelter was planned at Post Office station (renamed St Paul's in 1937) but was cancelled; the lift shafts that were made redundant when the station was given escalators in January 1939 were converted for use as a protected control centre for the Central Electricity Board
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1900. Today, the CLR's tunnels and stations form the central section of the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
's Central line
Central Line
The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
.
The railway company was established in 1889, funding for construction was obtained in 1895 through a syndicate of financiers and work took place from 1896 to 1900. When opened, the CLR served 13 stations and ran completely underground in a pair of tunnels for 9.14 kilometres (5.68 mi) between its western terminus at Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush
-Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
and its eastern terminus at the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, with a depot and power station to the north of the western terminus. After a rejected proposal to turn the line into a loop, it was extended at the western end to Wood Lane
Wood Lane
Wood Lane is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham...
in 1908 and at the eastern end to Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street, is both a central London railway terminus and a connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, England...
in 1912. In 1920, it was extended along a Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
line to Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
to serve a total distance of 17.57 kilometres (10.92 mi).
After initially making good returns for investors, the CLR suffered a decline in passenger numbers due to increased competition from other underground railway lines and new motorised buses. In 1913, it was taken over by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...
(UERL), operator of the majority of London's underground railways. In 1933 the CLR was taken into public ownership along with the UERL.
Origin, 1889–92
In November 1889, the CLR published a notice of a private billLocal and Personal Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Local and Personal Acts of Parliament are laws in the United Kingdom which apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. This contrasts with a Public General Act of Parliament which applies to the entire community...
that would be presented to Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
for the 1890 parliamentary session
Parliamentary session
A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections...
. The bill proposed an underground electric railway running from the junction of Queen's Road (now Queensway
Queensway (London)
Queensway is a bustling cosmopolitan street in the Bayswater district of west London. It contains many restaurants , pubs, letting agents, and high street stores...
) and Bayswater Road
Bayswater Road
Bayswater Road is the main road running across the north of Hyde Park, London. To the east Bayswater Road becomes Oxford Street . It is where the fictional upper middle class Forsyte family live in the BBC series the Forsyte Saga...
in Bayswater
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...
to King William Street
King William Street (London)
King William Street is the name of a street in the City of London, England. It runs from a junction at the Bank of England, meeting Poultry, Lombard Street and Threadneedle Street, south-east, where it meets a junction with Gracechurch and Cannon Street. It continues south after this junction, and...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
with a connection to the then-under construction, City and South London Railway (C&SLR) at Arthur Street West. The CLR was to run in a pair of tunnels under Bayswater Road, Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
, New Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
, High Holborn
High Holborn
High Holborn is a road in Holborn in central London, England. It starts in the west near St Giles Circus, then goes east, past the Kingsway and Southampton Row, and continues east. The road becomes Holborn at the junction with Gray's Inn Road....
, Holborn, Holborn Viaduct
Holborn Viaduct
Holborn Viaduct is a bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it . It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street in the City of London, passing over Farringdon Street and the now subterranean River Fleet.It was built between 1863 and 1869, at a cost of over two million...
, Newgate Street
Newgate
Newgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...
, Cheapside
Cheapside
Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...
, and Poultry. Stations were planned at Queen's Road, Stanhope Terrace, Marble Arch
Marble Arch
Marble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument that now stands on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road, almost directly opposite Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, England...
, Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus is the area of London at the busy intersection of Regent Street and Oxford Street, in the West End. It is served by Oxford Circus tube station, which is directly beneath the junction itself.- History :...
, Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road is a major road in central London, United Kingdom, running from St Giles Circus north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, a distance of about three-quarters of a mile...
, Southampton Row
Southampton Row
Southampton Row is major thoroughfare running northwest-southeast in Bloomsbury, Camden, central London, England. The road is designated as part of the A4200.- Location :To the north, Southampton Row adjoins the southeast corner of Russell Square...
, Holborn Circus
Holborn Circus
Holborn Circus is a famous location in London, on the boundary between Holborn and Smithfield. Holborn Circus is a roundabout.On one side lies the Church of St Andrew, Holborn, an ancient Guild Church, that survived the Great Fire of London. However, the parochial authority decided, nevertheless,...
, St. Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand
St Martin’s le Grand is a street and former liberty in the City of London between Newgate Street and Cheapside to the south and Aldersgate Street and London Wall to the north. To the east of the road once stood the collegiate church and monastic precinct of St Martin's, of ancient origin...
and King William Street.
The tunnels were to be 11 feet (3.35 m) in diameter, constructed with a tunnelling shield
Tunnelling shield
A tunnelling shield is a protective structure used in the excavation of tunnels through soil that is too soft or fluid to remain stable during the time it takes to line the tunnel with a support structure of concrete, cast iron or steel...
, and would be lined with cast iron segments. At stations, the tunnel diameter would be 22 feet (6.71 m) or 29 feet (8.84 m) depending on layout. A depot and power station were to be constructed on a 1.5 acre (0.607029 ha) site on the west side of Queen's Road. Hydraulic lifts from the street to the platforms were to be provided at each station.
The proposals faced strong objections from the Metropolitan
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
and Metropolitan District
Metropolitan District Railway
The Metropolitan District Railway was the predecessor of the District line of the London Underground. Set up on 29 July 1864, at first to complete the "Inner Circle" railway around central London, it was gradually extended into the suburbs...
Railways (MR and MDR) whose routes on the Inner Circle,The Inner Circle (now the Circle line) was a sub-surface loop line operated jointly by the MR and the MDR. to the north and the south respectively, the CLR route parallelled; and from which the new line was expected to take passengers. The City Corporation also objected, concerned about potential damage to buildings close to the route caused by subsidence
Subsidence
Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...
as was experienced during the construction of the C&SLR. The Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
objected, concerned about the risks of undermining the cathedral's foundations. Sir Joseph Bazalgette
Joseph Bazalgette
Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while...
objected that the tunnels would damage the city's sewer system. The bill was approved by the House of Commons, but was rejected by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, which recommended that any decision be postponed until after the C&SLR had opened and its operation could be assessed.
In November 1890, with the C&SLR about to start operating, the CLR announced a new bill for the 1891 parliamentary session. The route was extended at the western end to run under Notting Hill High Street (now Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.- Location :...
) and Holland Park Avenue
Holland Park Avenue
Holland Park Avenue is a street located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London in England. The street runs from Notting Hill Gate in the east to the Holland Park Roundabout in the west, and forms a part of the old west road connecting London with Oxford and the west...
to end at the eastern corner of Shepherd's Bush Green
Shepherd's Bush
-Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
, with the depot and power station site relocated to be north of the terminus on the east side of Wood Lane
Wood Lane
Wood Lane is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham...
. The westward extension of the route was inspired by the route of abandoned plans for the London Central Subway, a sub-surface railway that was briefly proposed in early 1890 to run directly below the roadway on a similar route to the CLR. The eastern terminus was changed to Cornhill and the proposed Southampton Row station was replaced by one in Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
. Intermediate stations were added at Lansdowne Road, Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.- Location :...
, Davies Street (which the CLR planned to extend northwards to meet Oxford Street) and at Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane is the street which has been the western boundary of the City of London since 1994 having previously been divided between Westminster and Camden...
. The earlier plan to connect to the C&SLR was dropped and the diameter of the CLR's tunnels was increased to 11 in 6 in (3.51 m). This time the bill was approved by both Houses of Parliament and received Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 1891 as the Central London Railway Act, 1891. In November 1891, the CLR publicised another bill. The eastern end of the line was re-routed north-east and extended to end under the Great Eastern Railway's
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
(GER's) terminus at Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street, is both a central London railway terminus and a connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, England...
with the Cornhill terminus dropped and a new station proposed at the Royal Exchange. The proposals received assent as the Central London Railway Act, 1892 on 1892.
The money to build the CLR was obtained through a syndicate of financiers including Ernest Cassel
Ernest Cassel
Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC was a German-born British merchant banker and capitalist.-Biography:...
, Henry Oppenheim, Darius Ogden Mills
Darius Ogden Mills
Darius Ogden Mills was a prominent American banker, philanthropist and, for a time, California's wealthiest citizen.-Biography:...
, and members of the Rothschild family
Rothschild banking family of England
The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in 1798 by Nathan Mayer von Rothschild who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London. Nathan was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild...
. On 1894, the syndicate incorporated a contractor to construct the railway, the Electric Traction Company Limited (ETCL), which agreed a construction cost of £2,544,000 (approximately £ today) plus £700,000 in 4 per cent debenture stock. When the syndicate offered 285,000 CLR company shares
Share (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
for sale at £10 each in June 1895, only 14 per cent was bought by the British public, which was cautious of such investments following failures of similar railway schemes. Some shares were sold in Europe and the United States, but the unsold remainder was bought by members of the syndicate or by the ETCL.
Construction, 1896–1900
To design the railway, the CLR employed the engineers James Henry GreatheadJames Henry Greathead
James Henry Greathead was an engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground railway.-Early life:Greathead was born in Grahamstown, South Africa; of English descent, Greathead's grandfather had emigrated to South Africa in 1820. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, and the...
, Sir John Fowler, and Sir Benjamin Baker. Greathead had been the engineer for the Tower Subway
Tower Subway
The Tower Subway is a tunnel, dug in 1869, beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London. Its alignment runs between Tower Hill on the north side of the river and Vine Lane to the south...
and the C&SLR, and had developed the tunnelling shield
Tunnelling shield
A tunnelling shield is a protective structure used in the excavation of tunnels through soil that is too soft or fluid to remain stable during the time it takes to line the tunnel with a support structure of concrete, cast iron or steel...
used to excavate those companies' tunnels under the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. Fowler had been the engineer on the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway opened in 1863, and Baker had worked on New York's elevated railways and on the Forth Railway Bridge with Fowler. Greathead died shortly after work began and was replaced by Basil Mott
Basil Mott
Sir Basil Mott, 1st Baronet FRS was one of the most notable English civil engineers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was responsible for some of the most innovative work on tunnels and bridges in the United Kingdom in the 40-year period centred on World War I.Basil Mott was born in...
, his assistant during the construction of the C&SLR.
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
of land and the raising of capital.Time limits were included in such legislation to encourage the railway company to complete the construction of its line as quickly as possible. They also prevented unused permissions acting as an indefinite block to other proposals. The original date specified for completion of construction was the end of 1896, but the time required to raise the finance and purchase station sites meant that construction had not begun by the start of that year. To give itself extra time, the CLR had obtained an extension of time to 1899 by the Central London Railway Act, 1894. Construction works were let by the ETCL as three sub-contracts: Shepherd's Bush to Marble Arch, Marble Arch to St Martin's Le Grand and St Martin's Le Grand to Bank. Work began with demolition of buildings at the Chancery Lane site in April 1896 and construction shafts were started at Chancery Lane, Shepherd's Bush, Stanhope Terrace and Bloomsbury in August and September 1896.
Negotiations with the GER for the works under Liverpool Street station were unsuccessful, and the final section beyond Bank was only constructed for a short distance as sidings. To minimise the risk of subsidence, the routing of the tunnels followed the roads on the surface and avoided passing under buildings. Usually the tunnels were bored side by side 60–110 ft (18.3–33.5 m) below the surface, but where a road was too narrow to allow this, the tunnels were aligned one above the other, so that a number of stations have platforms at different levels. To assist with the deceleration of trains arriving at stations and the acceleration of trains leaving, station tunnels were located at the tops of slight inclines.
Tunnelling was completed by the end of 1898, and, because a planned concrete lining to the cast iron tunnel rings was not installed, the internal diameter of the tunnels was generally 11 foot. For Bank station, the CLR negotiated permission with the City Corporation to construct its ticket hall beneath a steel framework under the roadway and pavements at the junction of Threadneedle Street
Threadneedle Street
Threadneedle Street is a street in the City of London, leading from a junction with Poultry, Cornhill, King William Street and Lombard Street, to Bishopsgate....
and Cornhill. This involved diverting pipework and cables into ducts beneath the subways linking the ticket hall to the street. Delays on this work were so costly that they nearly bankrupted the company. A further extension of time to 1900 was obtained through the Central London Railway Act, 1899.
Apart from Bank, which was completely below ground, all stations had buildings designed by Harry Bell Measures
Harry Bell Measures
Harry Bell Measures was an English architect.He had a varied career. From 1884 - 1892 he was in-house architect for William Willett producing high quality housing for the well-heeled in London and South East England; these were normally in the an ornate red brick Queen Anne style which was...
. They were single-storey structures to allow for future commercial development above and had elevations faced in beige terracotta
Architectural terracotta
Terracotta, in its unglazed form, became fashionable as an architectural ceramic construction material in England in the 1860s, and in the United States in the 1870s. It was generally used to supplement brick and tiles of similar colour in late Victorian buildings.It had been used before this in...
. Each station had lifts
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
manufactured by the Sprague Electric Company
Frank J. Sprague
Frank Julian Sprague was an American naval officer and inventor who contributed to the development of the electric motor, electric railways, and electric elevators...
in New York. The lifts were provided in a variety of sizes and configurations to suit the passenger flow at each station. Generally they operated in sets of two or three in a shared shaft. Station tunnel walls were finished in plain white ceramic tiles and lit by electric arc lamps. The electricity to run the trains and the stations was supplied from the power station at Wood Lane at 5,000V
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
AC
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
which was converted at sub-stations
Electrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
along the route to 550V DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
to power the trains via a third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
system.
Opening
The official opening of the CLR by the Prince of WalesEdward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
took place on 1900, one day before the time limit of the 1899 Act, although the line did not open to the public until 1900. The railway had stations at:
- Shepherd's Bush
- Holland ParkHolland Park tube stationHolland Park is a London Underground station. On the Central Line, it lies between Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill Gate stations, in Travelcard Zone 2.-History:...
- Notting Hill GateNotting Hill Gate tube stationNotting Hill Gate tube station is a London Underground station in the street known as Notting Hill Gate. On the Central Line, it is between Holland Park to the west and Queensway to the east. On the District Line and Circle Line it is between High Street Kensington and Bayswater stations...
- Queen's RoadQueensway tube stationQueensway is a London Underground station on the Central Line, just inside the boundary of the City of Westminster with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is at the junction of Queensway and Bayswater Road, and is northwest of Kensington Gardens...
(now Queensway) - Lancaster GateLancaster Gate tube stationLancaster Gate is a London Underground station located on the Central Line near Lancaster Gate on Bayswater Road in Bayswater , to the north of Kensington Gardens. It is between Queensway and Marble Arch on the Central line and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:Lancaster Gate station was opened on...
- Marble ArchMarble Arch tube stationMarble Arch is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. The station is between Lancaster Gate and Bond Street stations on the Central line, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:...
- Bond StreetBond Street tube stationBond Street tube station is a London Underground station on Oxford Street, near the junction with New Bond Street. Note that the street-level entrances are approximately 200 metres west of New Bond Street itself...
(opened 1900) - Oxford CircusOxford Circus tube station-External links:* ** ** * Plans of the station after the Victoria Line works , , *...
- Tottenham Court RoadTottenham Court Road tube stationTottenham Court Road is a London Underground station in central London. It is an interchange between the Central line and the branch of the Northern line.On the Central line it is between and , and on the Northern line it is between and...
- British MuseumBritish Museum tube stationBritish Museum tube station was a station on the London Underground's Central Line, located on Bury Place, close to the British Museum in central London, England.-History:...
(closed 1933) - Chancery LaneChancery Lane tube stationChancery Lane is a London Underground station in central London. It is on the Central Line between St. Paul's and Holborn stations. The station is located at the junction of High Holborn, Hatton Garden and Gray's Inn Road with subway entrances giving access to the ticket office under the roadway...
- Post OfficeSt. Paul's tube stationSt. Paul's tube station is a London Underground station in the City of London on the Central Line, between Bank and Chancery Lane stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 1....
(now St. Paul's) - Bank
The CLR charged a flat fare of two pence
Penny (British pre-decimal coin)
The penny of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, was in circulation from the early 18th century until February 1971, Decimal Day....
for a journey between any two stations, leading the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
to give the railway the nickname of the Twopenny Tube in August 1900. The service was very popular, and, by the end of 1900, the railway had carried 14,916,922 passengers. By attracting passengers from the bus services along its route and from the slower, steam-hauled, MR and MDR services, the CLR achieved passenger numbers around per year in the first few years of operation, generating a high turnover
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
that was more than twice the expenses. From 1900 to 1905, the company paid a dividend
Dividend
Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
of 4 per cent to investors.
Rolling stock
Greathead had originally planned for the trains to be hauled by a pair of small electric locomotives, one at each end of a train, but the Board of TradeBoard of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
rejected this proposal and a larger locomotive was designed which was able to pull up to seven carriages on its own. Twenty-eight locomotives were manufactured in America by the General Electric Company
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(of which syndicate member Darius Ogden Mills was a director) and assembled in the Wood Lane depot. A fleet of 168 carriages
London Underground 1900/1903 Stock
The 1900 Tube Stock were originally built as trailers for use with electric locomotives. This type of London Underground train was the original rolling stock built for the Central London Railway .-1900 Tube Stock:...
was manufactured by the Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company
Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company Ltd
The Ashbury Carriage and Iron Company Limited was a manufacturer of railway rolling stock founded by John Ashbury in 1837 at Knott Mill in Manchester, England, near the original terminus of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway...
and the Brush Electrical Engineering Company
Brush Traction
This article is about a British rail-locomotive maker. For the Detroit auto-maker, see Brush Motor Car CompanyBrush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives, part of the FKI group , based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, England situated alongside the Midland Main Line.-...
. Passengers boarded and left the trains through folding lattice gates at each end of the carriages; these gates were operated by guards who rode on an outside platform. The CLR had originally intended to have two classes of travel, but dropped the plan before opening, although its carriages were built with different qualities of interior fittings for this purpose.
Soon after the railway opened, complaints about vibrations from passing trains began to be made by occupiers of buildings along the route. The vibrations were caused by the heavy, largely unsprung locomotives which weighed 44 tons
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
(44.7 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s). The Board of Trade set up a committee to investigate the problem, and the CLR experimented with two solutions. For the first solution, three locomotives were modified to use lighter motors and were provided with improved suspension, so the weight was reduced to 31 tons (31.5 tonnes), more of which was sprung to reduce vibrations; for the second solution, two six-carriage trains were formed that had the two end carriages converted and provided with driver's cabs and their own motors so they could run as multiple units
Electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages...
without a separate locomotive. The lighter locomotives did reduce the vibrations felt at the surface, but the multiple units removed it almost completely and the CLR chose to adopt that solution. The committee's report, published in 1902, also found that the CLR's choice of 100 lb
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
/yard (49.60 kg/m) bridge rail
Baulk road
Baulk road is the name given to a type of railway track or 'rail road' that is formed using rails carried on continuous timber bearings, as opposed to the more familiar 'cross-sleeper' track that uses closely spaced sleepers or ties to give intermittent support to taller rails...
for its tracks rather than a stiffer bullhead rail on cross sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
contributed to the vibration.
Following the report, the CLR purchased 64 driving motor carriages for use with the existing stock; together, these were formed into six- or seven-carriage trains. The change to multiple unit operation was completed by June 1903 and all but two of the locomotives were scrapped. Those two were retained for shunting use in the depot.
Reversing loops, 1901
The CLR's ability to manage its high passenger numbers was constrained by the service interval that it could achieve between trains. This was directly related to the time taken to turn around trains at the termini. At the end of a journey, a locomotive had to be disconnected from the leading end of the train and run around to the rear, where it was reconnected before proceeding in the opposite direction; an exercise that took a minimum of 2½ minutes. Seeking to shorten this interval, the CLR published a bill in November 1900 for the 1901 parliamentary session. The bill requested permission to construct loops at each end of the line so that trains could be turned around without disconnecting the locomotive. The loop at the western end was planned to run anti-clockwise under the three sides of Shepherd's Bush Green. For the eastern loop the alternatives were a loop under Liverpool Street station or a larger loop running under Threadneedle Street, Old Broad Street, Liverpool Street, BishopsgateBishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
and returning to Threadneedle Street. The estimated cost of the loops was £800,000 (approximately £ today), most of which was for the eastern loop with its costly wayleaves.
The CLR bill was one of more than a dozen tube railway bills submitted to Parliament for the 1901 session, To review the bills on an equal basis, Parliament established a joint committee under Lord Windsor
Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth GBE, CB, PC , known as The Lord Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.-Background:...
, but by the time the committee had produced its report, the parliamentary session was almost over and the promoters of the bills were asked to resubmit them for the following 1902 session. Among the committee's recommendations were the withdrawal of the CLR's City loop, and that a quick, tube route from Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
to the City of London would benefit London's commuters.The MR and the MDR both offered services from Hammersmith to the City of London. The MR route ran via Paddington and the northern section of the Inner Circle and the MDR route ran via Earl's Court and the southern section of the Inner Circle. The steam-hauled trains were slow and suffered from having to compete for track space in timetables crowded with services from the companies' other routes. The prospect of quick electric tube trains offered an attractive alternative.
Loop line, 1902–05
Rather than resubmit its 1901 bill, the CLR presented a much more ambitious alternative for the 1902 parliamentary session. The reversing loops were dropped, and the CLR instead proposed to turn the whole railway into a single large loop by constructing a new southern route between the two existing end points, adopting the committee's recommendation for a Hammersmith to City route. At the western end, new tunnels were to be extended from the dead-end reversing siding west of Shepherd's Bush station and from the depot access tunnel. The route was to pass under Shepherd's Bush Green and run under Goldhawk Road as far as Hammersmith Grove where it was to turn south. At the southern end of Hammersmith Grove a station was to be provided on the corner of Brook Green Road (now Shepherd's Bush Road) to provide an interchange with the three stations already located there.In 1901, the MDR, MR and the London and South Western RailwayLondon and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
(L&SWR) all had stations at Hammersmith, although the L&SWR's closed in 1916.
From Hammersmith, the CLR's route was to turn eastwards and run under Hammersmith Road and Kensington High Street
Kensington High Street
Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, west London. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
with interchange stations at the MDR's Addison Road
Kensington (Olympia) station
Kensington station is a station in West London managed and served by London Overground and also served by Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...
(now Kensington Olympia) and High Street Kensington
High Street Kensington tube station
High Street Kensington is a London Underground station at Kensington High Street.The station is on the Circle Line between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate, and the District Line between Earl's Court and Notting Hill Gate. It is in Travelcard Zone 1....
stations. From Kensington High Street, the route was to run along the south side of Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, is one of the Royal Parks of London, lying immediately to the west of Hyde Park. It is shared between the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The park covers an area of 111 hectares .The open spaces...
beneath Kensington Road
Kensington Road
Kensington Road is a section of road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, forming part of the A315. It runs along the south edge of Kensington Gardens. To the west it becomes Kensington High Street, to the east it becomes Kensington Gore...
, Kensington Gore
Kensington Gore
Kensington Gore is a street in central London, England, the same name having been formerly used for the piece of land on which it stands. It runs along the south side of Hyde Park, continuing as Kensington Road to both the east and west. A gore is a narrow, triangular piece of land.The road is part...
and Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
. Stations were to be constructed at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
and the junction of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street
Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a major London street which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about half way along, entirely in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Hans Sloane, who purchased the surrounding area in 1712...
, where the Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus...
(B&PCR) already had permission to build a station
Knightsbridge tube station
Knightsbridge tube station is a London Underground station in Knightsbridge , The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Piccadilly Line between South Kensington and Hyde Park Corner, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:...
. From Sloane Street, the CLR's proposed route ran below that approved for the B&PCR under the eastern portion of Knightsbridge, under Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner is a place in London, at the south-east corner of Hyde Park. It is a major intersection where Park Lane, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place and Constitution Hill converge...
and along Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
to Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly...
. At Hyde Park Corner, a CLR station was to be sited close to the B&PCR's station
Hyde Park Corner tube station
Hyde Park Corner is a London Underground station near Hyde Park Corner in Hyde Park. It is in Travelcard Zone 1, between Knightsbridge and Green Park on the Piccadilly Line.-History:...
and the CLR's next station at St James's Street was a short distance to the east of the B&PCR's planned Dover Street station
Green Park tube station
Green Park tube station is a London Underground station located on the north side of Green Park, close to the intersection of Piccadilly and the pedestrian Queen's Walk...
. At Piccadilly Circus, the CLR planned an interchange with the partially completed station
Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
of the stalled Baker Street and Waterloo Railway
Baker Street and Waterloo Railway
The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway , also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London...
. The CLR route was then to turn south-east beneath Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
to a station at Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
and then north-east under Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
to Norfolk Street to interchange with the planned terminus
Aldwych tube station
Aldwych is a closed London Underground station in the City of Westminster, originally opened as Strand in 1907. It was the terminus and only station on the short Piccadilly line branch from Holborn that was a relic of the merger of two railway schemes. The disused station building is close to the...
of the Great Northern & Strand Railway
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus...
.
The route was then to continue east under Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
to Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus
Ludgate Circus is a location in the City of London at the intersection of Farringdon Street / New Bridge Street with Fleet Street/Ludgate Hill....
for an interchange with the South Eastern and Chatham Railway
South Eastern and Chatham Railway
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee , known by its shorter name of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Eastern Railway and London, Chatham and Dover Railway , that operated services between...
's (SECR's) Ludgate Hill station
Ludgate Hill railway station
Ludgate Hill railway station was a station in the City of London opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway as its City terminus on 1 June 1865...
, then south under New Bridge Street, and east into Queen Victoria Street
Queen Victoria Street, London
Queen Victoria Street, named after the British monarch from 1837 to 1901 is a long street in the City of London which runs east by north from its junction with New Bridge Street in Castle Baynard Ward, along a section that divides those of Queenhithe and Bread Street , then lastly through the...
where a station was planned to connect to the Metropolitan District Railway's Mansion House station
Mansion House tube station
Mansion House is a London Underground station in the City of London, near Mansion House . It is a sub-surface station served by trains on the Circle and District Lines. It is between Blackfriars and Cannon Street stations. The station is located at the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Cannon...
. The route was then to continue under Queen Victoria Street to reach the CLR's station at Bank, where separate platforms below the existing ones were to be provided. The final section of the route developed on the proposed loop from the year before with tunnels winding under the City's narrow, twisting streets. The tunnels were to run east, one below the other, beneath Cornhill and Leadenhall Street
Leadenhall Street
Leadenhall Street is a street in the City of London, formerly part of the A11. It runs east from Cornhill to Aldgate, and west vice-versa. Aldgate Pump is at the junction with Aldgate...
, north under St Mary Axe
St Mary Axe
St Mary Axe was a medieval parish in London whose name survives on the street it formerly occupied, St Mary Axe. The church itself was demolished in 1561 and its parish united with that of St Andrew Undershaft, which is on the corner of St Mary Axe and Leadenhall Street...
and west to Liverpool Street station, then south under Blomfield Street, east under Great Winchester Street, south under Austin Friars and Old Broad Street and west under Threadneedle Street where the tunnels were to connect with the existing sidings back into Bank. Two stations were to be provided on the loop; at the south end of St Mary Axe and at Liverpool Street station. To accommodate the additional rolling stock needed to operate the longer line, the depot was to be extended northwards. The power station was also to be enlarged to increase the electricity supply. The CLR estimated that its plan would cost £3,781,000 (approximately £ today): £2,110,000 for construction, £873,000 for land and £798,000 for electrical equipment and trains.
The CLR bill was one of many presented for the 1902 parliamentary session (including several for the Hammersmith to City route) and it was examined by another joint committee under Lord Windsor. The proposal received support from the mainline railway companies the route interchanged with and from the C&SLR, which had a station at Bank. The London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
and the City Corporation also supported the plan. The Metropolitan Railway opposed, seeing further competition to its services on the Inner Circle. Questions were raised in Parliament about the safety of tunnelling so close to the vaults of many City banks and the risk that subsidence might cause vault doors to jam shut. Another concern was the danger of undermining the foundations of the Dutch Church
Dutch Church, Austin Friars
The Dutch Church is a familiar landmark within Broad Street Ward, in the City of London. The original church was a monastic foundation and the Dutch connection goes back to 1550 when King Edward VI gave Protestant refugees from the Netherlands permission to establish their own parish...
in Austin Friars. The Windsor committee rejected the section between Shepherd's Bush and Bank, preferring a competing route from the J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
-backed Piccadilly, City and North East London Railway
Piccadilly, City and North East London Railway
The Piccadilly, City and North East London Railway was a tube railway in London proposed in 1902. The railway was to run from Southgate to Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush via Palmers Green, Tottenham, Stoke Newington, Dalston, Shoreditch, the City of London, the West End and Kensington.The PC&NELR...
(PC&NELR). Without the main part of its new route, the CLR withdrew the City loop, leaving a few improvements to the existing line to be approved in the Central London Railway Act, 1902 on 1902..
In late 1902, the PC&NELR plans collapsed after a falling out between the scheme's promoters led to a crucial part of the planned route coming under the control of a rival, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...
(UERL), which withdrew it from parliamentary consideration. With the PC&NELR scheme out of the way, the CLR resubmitted its bill in 1903, although consideration was again held up by Parliament's establishment of a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
on London Traffic tasked to assess the manner in which transport in London should be developed. While the Commission deliberated, any review of bills for new lines and extensions was postponed, so the CLR withdrew the bill. The CLR briefly re-presented the bill for the 1905 parliamentary session but withdrew it again, before making an agreement with the UERL in October 1905 that neither company would submit a bill for an east–west route in 1906. The plan was then dropped as the new trains with driving positions at both ends made it possible for the CLR to reduce the minimum interval between trains to two minutes without building the loop.
Wood Lane, 1906–08
In 1905, the government announced plans to hold an international exhibition to celebrate the Entente cordialeEntente Cordiale
The Entente Cordiale was a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial expansion addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a millennium of intermittent...
signed by France and Britain in 1904. The location of the Franco-British Exhibition
Franco-British Exhibition (1908)
The Franco-British Exhibition was a large public fair held in London in the early years of the 20th Century. The exhibition attracted 8 million visitors and celebrated the Entente Cordiale signed in 1904 by the United Kingdom and France....
's White City
White City, London
White City is a district in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, to the north of Shepherd's Bush. Today, White City is home to the BBC Television Centre and BBC White City, and Loftus Road stadium, the home of football club Queens Park Rangers FC....
site was across Wood Lane from the CLR's depot. To exploit the opportunity to carry visitors to the exhibition, the CLR announced a bill in November 1906 seeking to create a loop from Shepherd's Bush station and back, on which a new Wood Lane station
Wood Lane (Central Line) tube station
Wood Lane tube station is a disused station on the Central Line of the London Underground. It was built to serve the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908 and the 1908 Summer Olympics....
close to the exhibition's entrance would be built. The new work was approved on 1907 in the Central London Railway Act, 1907.
The new loop was formed by constructing a section of tunnel joining the end of the dead-end reversing tunnel to the west of Shepherd's Bush station and the north side of the depot. From Shepherd's Bush, trains ran anti-clockwise around the single track loop, first through the original depot access tunnel, then passed the north side of the depot and through the new station before entering the new section of tunnel and returning to Shepherd's Bush. Changes were also made to the depot layout to accommodate the new station and the new looped operations. Construction work on the exhibition site had started in January 1907, and the exhibition and new station opened on 1908. The station was on the surface between the two tunnel openings and was a basic design by Harry Bell Measures. It had platforms both sides of the curving track – passengers alighted on to one and boarded from the other.
Liverpool Street, 1908–12
With the extension to Wood Lane operational, the CLR revisited its earlier plan for an eastward extension from Bank to Liverpool Street station. This time, the Great Eastern Railway agreed to allow the CLR to build a station under its own main line terminus, provided that no further extension would be made north or north-east from there – territory served by the GER's routes from Liverpool Street. A bill was announced in November 1908, for the 1909 parliamentary session and received Royal Assent as the Central London Railway Act, 1909 on 1909. Construction started in July 1910 and the new Liverpool Street station was opened on 1912. Following their successful introduction at the MDR's Earl's Court stationEarl's Court tube station
Earl's Court tube station is a London Underground station in Earls Court. The station is located between Earls Court Road and Warwick Road . It is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2 and is in both zones....
in 1911, the station was the first underground station in London to be built with escalators. Four were provided, two to Liverpool Street station and two to the North London Railway's
North London Railway
The North London Railway was a railway company that opened lines connecting the north of London to the East and West India Docks. The main east to west route is now part the North London Line. Other lines operated by the company fell into disuse, but were later revived as part of the Docklands...
adjacent Broad Street station.
Ealing Broadway, 1911–20
The CLR's next planned extension was westward to Ealing. In 1905, the Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) had obtained parliamentary approval to construct the Ealing and Shepherd's Bush Railway (E&SBR), connecting its main line route at Ealing Broadway
Ealing Broadway station
Ealing Broadway is an east-west National Rail and London Underground station in Ealing in west London. The station is located in Haven Green , at the termination of The Broadway, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-Services:...
to the West London Railway
West London Line
The West London Line is a short railway in inner West London which links lines at in the south to lines near Willesden Junction in the north. It has always been an important cross-London link especially for freight services...
(WLR) north of Shepherd's Bush. From Ealing, the new line was to curve north-east through still mostly rural North Acton
North Acton
North Acton is a place in West London, UK. It is part of Acton and on the edge of the industrial district of Park Royal. It is located in the London Borough of Ealing.-Commercial activity:...
, then run east for a short distance parallel with the GWR's High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
line, before curving south-east. The line was then to run on an embankment south of Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common is an area of London between Harlesden and Acton known for its railway depots, particularly Old Oak Common TMD. Further south lies an open area, Wormwood Scrubs Park, and Wormwood Scrubs prison...
and Wormwood Scrubs
Wormwood Scrubs
Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs, is an open space located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the Borough, at 80 ha , and one of the largest areas of common land in London...
before connecting to the WLR a short distance to the north of the CLR's depot.
Construction work did not begin immediately, and, in 1911, the CLR and GWR agreed running powers for CLR services over the line to Ealing Broadway. To make a connection to the E&SBR, the CLR obtained parliamentary permission for a short extension northward from Wood Lane station on 1911 in the Central London Railway Act, 1911. The new E&SBR line was constructed by the GWR and opened as a steam-hauled freight only line on 1917. Electrification of the track and the start of CLR services were postponed until after the end of World War I, not starting until 1920 when a single intermediate station at East Acton
East Acton tube station
East Acton is a London Underground station in East Acton in west London. The station is on the Central Line, between White City and North Acton stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2...
was also opened.
Wood Lane station was modified and extended to accommodate the northward extension tracks linking to the E&SBR. The existing platforms on the loop were retained, continuing to be used by trains that were turning back to central London, and two new platforms for trains running to or from Ealing were constructed at a lower level on the new tracks, which connected to each side of the loop. Ealing Broadway station was modified to provide additional platforms for CLR use between the existing but separate sets of platforms used by the GWR and the MDR.
To provide services over the 6.97 kilometres (4.3 mi) extension, the CLR ordered 24 additional driving motor carriages from the Brush Company, which, when delivered in 1917, were first borrowed by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway for use in place of carriages ordered for its extension to Watford Junction. The new carriages were the first for tube-sized trains that were fully enclosed, without gated platforms at the rear, and were provided with hinged doors in the sides to speed-up passenger loading times. To operate with the new stock the CLR converted 48 existing carriages, providing a total of 72 carriages for twelve six-car trains. Modifications made while in use on the Watford extension meant that the new carriages were not compatible with the rest of the CLR's fleet and they became known as the Ealing stock
London Underground 1915 Stock
Twenty-four 1915 Tube Stock driving motor cars were built by Brush for the Central London Railway's extension from Wood Lane to Ealing Broadway...
.
The E&SBR remained part of the GWR until nationalisation at the beginning of 1948, when (with the exception of Ealing Broadway station) it was transferred to the London Transport Executive
London Transport Executive
The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in the Greater London area, UK, between 1948-1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-Creation:On 1...
. Ealing Broadway remained part of British Railways, as successors to the GWR.
Richmond, 1913 and 1920
In November 1912, the CLR announced plans for an extension from Shepherd's Bush on a new south-westwards route. Tunnels were planned under Goldhawk Road, Stamford Brook Road and Bath Road to Chiswick Common where a turn to the south would take the tunnels under Turnham Green Terrace for a short distance. The route then was to head west again to continue under Chiswick High Road before coming to the surface east of the London and South Western Railway'sLondon and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
(L&SWR's) Gunnersbury station
Gunnersbury station
thumb|right|District Line train for Richmond in 1955Gunnersbury station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Gunnersbury in west London. The station is served by the District Line and London Overground trains on the North London Line and is managed by London Underground. On the...
. Here a connection would be made to allow the CLR's tube trains to run south-west to Richmond station
Richmond station (London)
Richmond station is a National Rail and London Underground station in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London which is managed by South West Trains....
over L&SWR tracks that the MDR shared and had electrified in 1905. Stations were planned on Goldhawk Road at its junctions with The Grove, Paddenswick Road and Rylett Road, at Emlyn Road on Stamford Brook Road, at Turnham Green Terrace (for a connection with the L&SWR's/MDR's Turnham Green station
Turnham Green tube station
Turnham Green is a London Underground station in Chiswick in west London. The station is located on Turnham Green Terrace, but the actual green is much closer to Chiswick Park station. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly Lines although Piccadilly Line trains normally only stop at...
) and at the junction of Chiswick High Road and Heathfield Terrace. Beyond Richmond, the CLR saw further opportunities to continue over L&SWR tracks to the commuter towns of Twickenham
Twickenham
Twickenham is a large suburban town southwest of central London. It is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and one of the locally important district centres identified in the London Plan...
, Sunbury
Sunbury-on-Thames
Sunbury-on-Thames, also known as Sunbury, is a town in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne, England, and part of the London commuter belt. It is located 16 miles southwest of central London and bordered by Feltham and Hampton, flanked on the south by the River Thames.-History:The earliest evidence of...
and Shepperton
Shepperton
Shepperton is a town in the borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England. To the south it is bounded by the river Thames at Desborough Island and is bisected by the M3 motorway...
, although this required the tracks to be electrified. The CLR received permission for the new line to Gunnersbury on 1913 in the Central London Railway Act, 1913, but World War I prevented the works from commencing and the permission expired.
In November 1919, the CLR published a new bill to revive the Richmond extension, but using a different route that required only a short section of new tunnel construction. The new proposal was to construct tunnels southwards from Shepherd's Bush station, which would come to the surface to connect to disused L&SWR tracks north of Hammersmith Grove Road station that had closed in 1916. From Hammersmith, the disused LS&WR tracks continued westwards, on the same viaduct as the MDR's tracks through Turnham Green to Gunnersbury and Richmond. The plan required electrification of the disused tracks, but avoided the need for costly tunnelling and would have shared the existing stations on the route with the MDR. The plan received assent on 1920 as part of the Central London and Metropolitan District Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1920, although the CLR made no attempt to carry out any of the work. The disused L&SWR tracks between Ravenscourt Park
Ravenscourt Park tube station
Ravenscourt Park is a London Underground station located in west Hammersmith, west London. The station is served by the District Line and is between Hammersmith and Stamford Brook stations....
and Turnham Green were eventually used for the westward extension of the Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
from Hammersmith in 1932.
Competition, co-operation and sale, 1906–13
From 1906 the CLR began to experience a large fall in passenger numbers caused by increased competition from the MDR and the MR, which electrified the Inner Circle in 1905, and from the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton RailwayGreat Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus...
(GNP&BR) which opened its rival route to Hammersmith in 1906. Road traffic also offered a greater challenge as motor buses began replacing the horse drawn variety in greater numbers. In an attempt to maintain income, the company increased the flat fare for longer journeys to three pence in July 1907 and reduced the fare for shorter journeys to one penny in March 1909. Multiple booklets of tickets, which had previously been sold at face value
Face value
The Face value is the value of a coin, stamp or paper money, as printed on the coin, stamp or bill itself by the minting authority. While the face value usually refers to the true value of the coin, stamp or bill in question it can sometimes be largely symbolic, as is often the case with bullion...
, were offered at discounts, and season tickets were introduced from July 1911.
The CLR looked to economise through the use of technological developments. The introduction in 1909 of dead-man's handles to the driver controls and "trip cocks
Train stop
Part of a railway signalling system, a train stop or trip stop is a train protection device that automatically stops a train if it attempts to pass a signal when the signal aspect and operating rules prohibit such movement, or if it attempts to pass at an excessive speed.- Basic operation :The...
" devices on signals and trains meant that the assistant driver was no longer required as a safety measure. Signalling automation allowed the closure of many of the line's 16 signal boxes and a reduction in signalling staff. From 1911, the CLR operated a parcel service, making modifications to the driving cars of four trains to provide a compartment in which parcels could be sorted. These were collected at each station and distributed to their destinations by a team of tricycle riding delivery boys. The service made a small profit, but ended in 1917 because of wartime labour shortages.
The problem of declining revenues was not limited to the CLR; all of London's tube lines and the sub-surface MDR and MR were affected by competition to some degree. The reduced income from the lower passenger numbers made it difficult for the companies to pay back borrowed capital, or to pay dividends to shareholders. The CLR's dividend payments fell to 3 per cent from 1905, but those of the UERL's lines were as low as 0.75 per cent. From 1907, the CLR, the UERL, the C&SLR, and the Great Northern & City Railway companies began to introduce fare agreements. From 1908, they began to present themselves through common branding as the Underground. In November 1912, after secret take-over talks, the UERL announced that it was purchasing the CLR, swapping one of its own shares for each of the CLR's. The take-over took effect on 1913, although the CLR company remained legally separate from the UERL's other tube lines.
Improvements and integration, 1920–33
Following the takeover, the UERL took steps to integrate the CLR's operations with its own. The CLR's power station was closed in March 1928 with power instead being supplied from the UERL's Lots Road Power StationLots Road Power Station
Lots Road Power Station is a disused coal and later oil-fired power station on the River Thames at Lots Road in Chelsea, London in the south-west of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which supplied electricity to the London Underground system...
in Chelsea. Busier stations were modernised; Bank and Shepherd's Bush stations received escalators in 1924, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus in 1925 and Bond Street in 1926, which also received a new entrance designed by Charles Holden
Charles Holden
Charles Henry Holden, Litt. D., FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the...
. Chancery Lane and Marble Arch stations were also rebuilt to receive escalators in the early 1930s.
On 5 November 1923 new stations were opened on the Ealing extension at North Acton
North Acton tube station
North Acton tube station is in North Acton, west London in the London Borough of Ealing. The station is on the Central line of the London Underground, between East Acton and Hanger Lane...
and West Acton
West Acton tube station
West Acton is a London Underground station between Ealing Broadway and North Acton on the Ealing Broadway branch of the Central Line, and is its only intermediate station. The station is a Grade II listed building. It is in Travelcard Zone 3. The station is close to North Ealing tube station on the...
. They were built to serve residential and industrial developments around Park Royal
Park Royal
Park Royal is an area in northwest London, UK. It is the largest industrial and business park in London, occupying about , and is promoted commercially by the Park Royal Partnership...
and, like East Acton, the station buildings were basic structures with simple timber shelters on the platforms. The poor location of British Museum station and the lack of an interchange with the GNP&BR's station at Holborn had been a considered a problem by the CLR almost since the opening of the GNP&BR in 1906. A pedestrian subway to link the stations was considered in 1907, but not carried out. A proposal to enlarge the tunnels under High Holborn to create new platforms at Holborn station for the CLR and to abandon British Museum station was included in a CLR bill submitted to parliament in November 1913. This was given assent in 1914, but World War I prevented any works taking place, and it was not until 1930 that the UERL revived the powers and began construction work. The new platforms, along with a new ticket hall and escalators to both lines, opened on 1933, British Museum station having closed at the end of traffic the day before.
Between March 1926 and September 1928, the CLR converted the remaining gate stock carriages in phases. The end platforms were enclosed to provide additional passenger accommodation and two sliding doors were inserting in each side. The conversions increased capacity and allowed the CLR to remove gatemen from the train crews, with responsibility for controlling doors moving to the two guards who each managed half the train. Finally, the introduction of driver/guard communications in 1928 allowed the CLR to dispense with the second guard, reducing a train crew to just a driver and a guard. The addition of doors in the sides of cars caused problems at Wood Lane where the length of the platform on the inside of the returning curve was limited by an adjacent access track into the depot. The problem was solved by the introduction of a pivoted section of platform which usually sat above the access track and allowed passengers to board trains as normal, but which could be moved to allow access to the depot.
Move to public ownership, 1923–33
Despite closer co-operation and improvements made to the CLR stations and to other parts of the network, the Underground railways continued to struggle financially. The UERL's ownership of the highly profitable London General Omnibus CompanyLondon General Omnibus Company
The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer.- Overview :...
(LGOC) since 1912 had enabled the UERL group, through the pooling of revenues, to use profits from the bus company to subsidise the less profitable railways. However, competition from numerous small bus companies during the early 1920s eroded the profitability of the LGOC and had a negative impact on the profitability of the whole UERL group.
To protect the UERL group's income, its chairman Lord Ashfield
Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield
Albert Henry Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, PC, TD , born Albert Henry Knattriess, was a British-American who was managing director, then chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London from 1910 to 1933 and chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board from 1933 to 1947.Although...
lobbied the government for regulation of transport services in the London area. Starting in 1923, a series of legislative initiatives were made in this direction, with Ashfield and Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
London County Councillor (later MP and Minister of Transport) Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison
Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, CH, PC was a British Labour politician; he held a various number of senior positions in the Cabinet, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.-Early life:Morrison was the son of a police constable and was born in...
, at the forefront of debates as to the level of regulation and public control under which transport services should be brought. Ashfield aimed for regulation that would give the UERL group protection from competition and allow it to take substantive control of the LCC's
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
tram system; Morrison preferred full public ownership. After seven years of false starts, a bill was announced at the end of 1930 for the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...
(LPTB), a public corporation that would take control of the UERL, the MR and all bus and tram operators within an area designated as the London Passenger Transport Area. The Board was a compromise – public ownership but not full nationalisation – and came into existence on 1933. On this date, ownership of the assets of the CLR and the other Underground companies transferred to the LPTB.
Legacy
- For a history of the line after 1933 see Central lineCentral LineThe Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
In 1935 the LPTB announced plans as part of its New Works Programme
New Works Programme
The "New Works Programme, 1935 - 1940" was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board , commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolleybus and bus services in the capital and the surrounding areas...
to extend the CLR at both ends by taking over and electrifying local routes owned by the GWR in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
and Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
and by the LNER in east London and Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. Work in the tunnels to lengthen platforms for longer trains and to correct misaligned tunnel sections that slowed running speeds was also carried out. A new station was planned to replace the cramped Wood Lane. The service from North Acton through Greenford
Greenford station
Greenford station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Greenford, Greater London, and is owned and managed by LUL. It is the terminus of the National Rail Greenford Branch Line, and is in Travelcard Zone 4.-History:...
and Ruislip
West Ruislip station
West Ruislip is a Network Rail station located on Ickenham Road between Ickenham and Ruislip in western Greater London; it is served by both London Underground and National Rail trains on independent platforms....
to Denham
Denham railway station
Denham railway station is in Buckinghamshire, England, on the Chiltern Main Line north west of Marylebone towards High Wycombe.-History:The station was built just to the north of Denham village as part of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway from Grendon Underwood junction to...
was due to open between January 1940 and March 1941. The eastern extension from Liverpool Street to Stratford
Stratford station
Stratford station is a large multilevel railway station in Stratford, east London. The station is served by the National Rail services National Express East Anglia, London Overground and c2c, by London Underground's Central and Jubilee lines, and by the Docklands Light Railway . Stratford is in...
, Leyton
Leyton tube station
Leyton tube station is a London Underground station at Leyton. Situated opposite Leyton Mills at the end of Leyton High Street. It is on the Central Line between Stratford and Leytonstone. It is in zone 3.-History:...
and Newbury Park
Newbury Park tube station
Newbury Park tube station is a London Underground station in Newbury Park, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is on the Hainault loop of the Central Line, in Zone 4....
and the connection to the LNER lines to Hainault
Hainault tube station
Hainault is a London Underground station on the Central Line in Hainault in the London Borough of Redbridge. Since 2 January 2007 the station is in Travelcard Zone 4. This station is home to one of the three Central Line depots.-History:...
, Epping
Epping tube station
Epping on the London Underground is the north-eastern terminus of the Central Line. The station before Epping is Theydon Bois, which is about three minutes travelling time away. Epping station is in the Epping Forest District of Essex...
and Ongar were intended to open in 1940 and 1941. World War II caused works on both extensions to be halted and London Underground services were extended in stages from 1946 to 1949, although the final section from West Ruislip to Denham was cancelled. Following the LPTB take over, the Harry Beck
Harry Beck
Henry Charles Beck , known as Harry Beck, was an English engineering draftsman best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1931. Beck drew up the diagram in his spare time while working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office...
-designed tube map began to show the route's name as the "Central London Line" instead of "Central London Railway". In anticipation of the extensions taking its services far beyond the boundaries of the County of London
County of London
The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government Act 1888. The Act created an administrative County of...
, "London" was omitted from the name on 1937; thereafter it was simply the "Central Line". Today the CLR's original tunnels form the core of the Central line's 72.17 kilometres (44.8 mi) route.
During World War II, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) of completed tube tunnels built for the eastern extension between Gants Hill
Gants Hill tube station
Gants Hill tube station is a London Underground station in Gants Hill, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It is served by the Central Line and is in Zone 4. It is the easternmost station to be entirely below ground on the London Underground network....
and Redbridge
Redbridge tube station
Redbridge tube station is a London Underground station in Redbridge, on the Hainault Loop of the Central line, in Zone 4. It is on the Eastern Avenue....
were used as a factory by Plessey
Plessey
The Plessey Company plc was a British-based international electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after the second world war by acquisition of companies and formed overseas companies...
to manufacture electronic parts for aircraft. Other completed tunnels were used as air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelter
Air-raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of the civil population as well as military personnel against enemy attacks from the air...
s at Liverpool Street, Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green tube station
Bethnal Green tube station is a station on the Central Line of the London Underground in Bethnal Green, East London. It lies between Liverpool Street and Mile End stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. The station was opened as part of the long planned Central Line eastern extension on 4 December...
and between Stratford and Leyton, as were the closed parts of British Museum station At Chancery Lane, new tunnels 16 in 6 in (5.03 m) in diameter and 1200 feet (365.8 m) long were constructed below the running tunnels during 1941 and early 1942. These were fitted out as a deep level shelter
London deep-level shelters
The London deep-level shelters are eight deep-level air-raid shelters that were built under London Underground stations during World War II.-Background:...
for government use as a protected communications centre. Work on a similar shelter was planned at Post Office station (renamed St Paul's in 1937) but was cancelled; the lift shafts that were made redundant when the station was given escalators in January 1939 were converted for use as a protected control centre for the Central Electricity Board
Central Electricity Board
The United Kingdom Central Electricity Board was set up under The Electricity Act 1926 to standardise the nation's electricity supply. At that time, the industry consisted of more than 600 electricity supply companies and local authority undertakings, and different areas operated at different...
.