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Metro-land
May. 16th, 2024 09:23 pmBook Review: The Subterranean Railway, by Christian Wolmar
I bought this as a Kindle special offer before Christmas, in case I needed filler, but it had been on my radar for quite some time. This is an updated edition, with references to covid but with the Elizabeth Line still a work in progress. As I have come to expect, Wolmar is an excellent writer, and he gathers and selects his comprehensive story well, beginning with a number of transport schemes of varying plausibility that were drafted from the early nineteenth century onwards. What is remarkable is the speed of construction, once a decision to go ahead was made. Of course there was no health and safety to be concerned about, but the technology for the "cut and cover" subsurface lines was innovative, and the deep tubes which followed a generation later even more so. Despite scepticism (and smoke), the trains were generally popular, but mostly struggled to recoup their costs and pay dividends to investors. Ironically, the solution was often to build more railway, and there's no doubt that whilst central London shaped the initial routes, the later extensions into outlying villages shaped the London of the twentieth century, most famously but not uniquely with Metro-land.
The City of London was resistant to railways, and so all the main line termini lie outside its boundaries; the original Metropolitan line ran from Paddington to Farringdon, on the edge of the city, via Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross. For many years, some through trains were also allowed; Wolmar does not elaborate much, but it turns out that GWR had adopted standard gauge (or at least mixed gauge) on some routes into Paddington by 1863, which would otherwise have been a mystery. Although London Underground and National Rail services were separated many years ago, today's Thameslink service running north-south is a reincarnated example of a route originally plied by many operators.
It's not just about the trains, though. Wolmar discusses the distinctive architecture, the companies, the driving personalities, poster art, Harry Beck's map, and the development of London. The tube was used as a shelter in World War 1, as well as more famously in World War 2. In the post-war decades, investment ground to a halt, with the rise of the motor car but without foreseeing the problems of congestion, and the service deteriorated (Wolmar singles out the King's Cross fire as a particularly bad example of decline). But still there was innovation: the Victoria line introduced essentially driverless trains (they are manned for safety, rather than as a technical requirement). The Jubilee line was introduced to relieve congestion on the central section of the Bakerloo line; the subsequent extension was not that originally planned, being somewhat influenced by the Canary Wharf development (a factor also in the route of the later Elizabeth line). Financially, the system went through mergers, mutualisation, nationalisation, and PFI: some of these were more successful than others. A curious omission, I suppose falling mostly after publication of the original edition, is any discussion of modern ticketing: Oyster was innovative, and I've read elsewhere that TfL, if not the originator of the technology, arguably precipitated mass usage of contactless payments across the world. But it's still a fine book.
I bought this as a Kindle special offer before Christmas, in case I needed filler, but it had been on my radar for quite some time. This is an updated edition, with references to covid but with the Elizabeth Line still a work in progress. As I have come to expect, Wolmar is an excellent writer, and he gathers and selects his comprehensive story well, beginning with a number of transport schemes of varying plausibility that were drafted from the early nineteenth century onwards. What is remarkable is the speed of construction, once a decision to go ahead was made. Of course there was no health and safety to be concerned about, but the technology for the "cut and cover" subsurface lines was innovative, and the deep tubes which followed a generation later even more so. Despite scepticism (and smoke), the trains were generally popular, but mostly struggled to recoup their costs and pay dividends to investors. Ironically, the solution was often to build more railway, and there's no doubt that whilst central London shaped the initial routes, the later extensions into outlying villages shaped the London of the twentieth century, most famously but not uniquely with Metro-land.
The City of London was resistant to railways, and so all the main line termini lie outside its boundaries; the original Metropolitan line ran from Paddington to Farringdon, on the edge of the city, via Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross. For many years, some through trains were also allowed; Wolmar does not elaborate much, but it turns out that GWR had adopted standard gauge (or at least mixed gauge) on some routes into Paddington by 1863, which would otherwise have been a mystery. Although London Underground and National Rail services were separated many years ago, today's Thameslink service running north-south is a reincarnated example of a route originally plied by many operators.
It's not just about the trains, though. Wolmar discusses the distinctive architecture, the companies, the driving personalities, poster art, Harry Beck's map, and the development of London. The tube was used as a shelter in World War 1, as well as more famously in World War 2. In the post-war decades, investment ground to a halt, with the rise of the motor car but without foreseeing the problems of congestion, and the service deteriorated (Wolmar singles out the King's Cross fire as a particularly bad example of decline). But still there was innovation: the Victoria line introduced essentially driverless trains (they are manned for safety, rather than as a technical requirement). The Jubilee line was introduced to relieve congestion on the central section of the Bakerloo line; the subsequent extension was not that originally planned, being somewhat influenced by the Canary Wharf development (a factor also in the route of the later Elizabeth line). Financially, the system went through mergers, mutualisation, nationalisation, and PFI: some of these were more successful than others. A curious omission, I suppose falling mostly after publication of the original edition, is any discussion of modern ticketing: Oyster was innovative, and I've read elsewhere that TfL, if not the originator of the technology, arguably precipitated mass usage of contactless payments across the world. But it's still a fine book.