Baker Street and Waterloo Railway
Encyclopedia
The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. Although construction began in 1898, the company struggled to fund the work and was then hit by the financial collapse in 1900 of its parent company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, through the fraud of its main shareholder, Whitaker Wright
. In 1902, the BS&WR became a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL) controlled by American financier Charles Yerkes
. The UERL quickly raised the funds, mainly from foreign investors.
When opened in 1906, the BS&WR's line served nine stations and ran completely underground in a pair of tunnels for 5.81 kilometres (3.61 mi) between its northern terminus at Baker Street
and its southern terminus at Elephant and Castle
with a depot on a short spur nearby at London Road. Extensions between 1907 and 1913 took the northern end of the line to the terminus of the Great Western Railway
(GWR) at Paddington. Between 1915 and 1917, it was further extended to Queen's Park
, where it came to the surface and connected with the London and North Western Railway
(LNWR), and to Watford
; a total distance of 33.34 kilometres (20.72 mi).
Within the first year of opening it became apparent to the management and investors that the estimated passenger numbers for the BS&WR and the other UERL lines were over-optimistic. Despite improved integration and cooperation with the other tube railways and the later extensions, the BS&WR struggled financially. In 1933, the BS&WR was taken into public ownership along with the UERL. Today, the BS&WR's tunnels and stations operate as the London Underground
's Bakerloo line
.
that would be presented to Parliament
for the construction of the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR). The railway was planned to run entirely underground from the junction of New Street (now Melcombe Street) and Dorset Square west of Baker Street to James Street (now Spur Road) on the south side of Waterloo station. From Baker Street, the route was to run eastwards beneath Marylebone Road
, then curve to the south under Park Crescent
and follow Portland Place
, Langham Place and Regent Street
to Piccadilly Circus
. It was then to run under Haymarket, Trafalgar Square
and Northumberland Avenue
before passing under the River Thames
to Waterloo station. A decision had not been made between the use of cable haulage or electric traction as the means of pulling the trains. The promoters of the BS&WR were motivated by the recent success of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), the world's first deep-tube railway. This had opened in November 1890 and had seen large passenger numbers in its first year of operation. One of the benefits put forward by the railway company was its use by West End
businessmen as a way to get quickly to Lord's Cricket Ground
north of Baker Street after work for the last hour of play.
Bills for three similarly inspired new underground railways were also submitted to Parliament for the 1892 parliamentary session
, and, to ensure a consistent approach, a Joint Select Committee was established to review the proposals. The committee took evidence on various matters regarding the construction and operation of deep-tube railways, and made recommendations on the diameter of tube tunnels, method of traction, and the granting of wayleaves
. After rejecting the construction of stations on land owned by the Crown Estate
and the Duke of Portland
between Oxford Circus
and Baker Street, the Committee allowed the BS&WR bill to proceed for normal parliamentary consideration.
The route was approved and the bill received Royal Assent
on 28 March 1893 as the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1893. Stations were permitted at Baker Street
, Oxford Circus
, Piccadilly Circus
, Trafalgar Square
, Embankment
and Waterloo
. The depot would have been at the south end of the line at James Street and Lower Marsh
.
for the construction works. The BS&WR was not alone; four other new tube railway companies were looking for investors – the Waterloo and City Railway (W&CR), the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) and the Great Northern and City Railway (GN&CR) (the three other companies that had been put forward bills in 1892) and the Central London Railway
(CLR, which had received assent in 1891). The original tube railway, the C&SLR, was also raising funds to construct extensions to its existing line. Only the W&CR, which was the shortest line and was backed by the London and South Western Railway
with a guaranteed dividend
, was able to raise its funds without difficulty. For the BS&WR and the rest, and others that came later, much of the remainder of the decade saw a struggle to find finance in an uninterested market.
Like most legislation of its kind, the act of 1893 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. To keep the powers alive, the BS&WR announced a new bill in November 1895, which included an application for an extension of time. The additional time was granted when the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1896 received Royal Assent on 7 August 1896.
In November 1897, the BS&WR did a deal with the London & Globe Finance Corporation (L&GFC) a mining finance company operated by mining speculator Whitaker Wright
and chaired by Lord Dufferin
. The L&GFC was to fund and manage the construction; taking any profit from the process. The cost of construction was estimated to be £1,615,000 (equivalent to approximately £ today). The L&GFC replaced the BS&WR's directors with its own and let construction contracts. Wright had made fortunes in America and Britain by promoting gold and silver mines and saw the BS&WR as a way of diversifying the L&GFC's holdings.
In 1899, Wright fraudulently concealed large losses by one of the corporation's mines by manipulating the accounts of various L&GFC subsidiary companies. Expenditure for the BS&WR was also high, with the L&GFC having paid-out approximately £650,000 (£ today) by November 1900. In December 1900, Wright's fraud was discovered and the L&GFC and many of its subsidiaries collapsed.
The BS&WR struggled on for a time, funding the construction work by making calls on the unpaid portion of its shares, but activity eventually came to a stop. In March 1902, Charles Yerkes
' consortium came to the rescue of the BS&WR when it purchased the company for £360,000 plus interest (£ today). American financier Yerkes, who had been lucratively involved in the development of Chicago's tram
way system in the 1880s and 1890s, had come to London in 1900 and purchased a number of the struggling underground railway companies. The BS&WR became a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL) which Yerkes had formed to raise funds to build the tube railways and to electrify
the Metropolitan District Railway
. The UERL was capitalised
at £5 million with the majority of share
s sold to overseas investors. Further share issues followed, which raised a total of £18 million by 1903 (equivalent to approximately £ today) for use across all of the UERL's projects.
, the new London terminus of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
's extension from the Midlands
then under construction.Approval for the extension and a new station at Marylebone were included in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1896.
MP, which planned two separate sections of tube line which would connect directly to the BS≀ extending the line south-east from Waterloo and east from around Marylebone Road.
The southern of the NC&WR's two extensions was planned to connect with the BS&WR tunnels under Belvedere Road to the west of Waterloo station and head east under the mainline station to its own station under Sandell Street adjacent to Waterloo East station
. The route was then planned to run under Waterloo Road
, St George's Circus
and London Road
to Elephant and Castle
. The route then followed New Kent Road
and Old Kent Road
as far as the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
's Old Kent Road station
(closed in 1917). Intermediate stations were to be constructed at St George's Circus, Elephant and Castle (where the NC&WR station would interchange with the C&SLR's station
below ground and link to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's station
above ground), in New Kent Road at Munton Road, at the junction of New Kent Road and Old Kent Road, and on Old Kent Road at the junctions with Mina Road, Bowles Road and Commercial Road (now Commercial Way). A power station was planned on the south side of Old Kent Road where it crossed the Grand Surrey Canal
(now filled-in) at the junction with St James's Road. This would have provided a delivery route for fuel and a source of water. Tunnels were also planned to connect the BS&WR's proposed depot at Waterloo to the NC&WR's route enabling trains to enter and exit in two directions.
The NC&WR's other planned extension was to branch from the BS&WR's curve under Park Crescent. It was then to curve eastwards under Regent's Park
and then run under Longford Street and Drummond Street to end at a station on the west side of Seymour Street (now Eversholt Street) under Euston station
. An intermediate station was planned for the junction of Drummond Street and Hampstead Road.
The bill was deposited in Parliament, but no progress was made in the 1898 session and it disappeared afterwards, although the BS&WR presented a modified version of the Euston branch in a bill for the 1899 session.
to cross the park's Outer Circle between Chester Road and Cumberland Gate where a station was to be constructed. The route then followed Cumberland Street West (now Nash Street), Cumberland Market
, Cumberland Street East and Edward Street (both now Varndell Street), before ending at a station under Cardington Street on the west side of Euston station.
The second extension was to continue the line west from Marylebone; running under Great James Street and Bell Street (now both Bell Street) to Corlett Street then turning south to reach the Grand Junction Canal
's Paddington Basin
to the east of the GWR's
Paddington station. A station was to be located directly under the east-west arm of the basin before the line turned north-west, running between the mainline station and the basin, before the two tunnels merged into one. The single tunnel was then to turn north-east, passing under the Regent's Canal
to the east of Little Venice, before coming to the surface where a depot was to be built on the north side of Blomfield Road. The BS&WR also planned a power station at Paddington. The final change to the route was a modification at Waterloo to move the last section of the line southwards to end under Addington Street.
The Metropolitan Railway
(MR), London's first underground railway which had been operating between Paddington and Euston over the northern section of the Inner Circle since 1863, saw the BS&WR's two northern extensions as competition for its own service and strongly objected. Parliament accepted the objections; when the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1899 received Royal Assent on 1 August 1899, only the extension of time and the route change at Waterloo were approved
and St George's Road
to terminate at Elephant and Castle. The BS&WR would connect there to the CS&LR's station as the NC&WR had planned two years earlier. A spur was to be provided to a depot and power station that were to be constructed on the site of the School for the Indigent Blind south of St George's Circus.
The Paddington extension was aligned to allow a westward extension to continue to Royal Oak
or Willesden
, areas already served by the MR, which again opposed the plans. This time, the BS&WR was successful and Royal Assent for the extensions was granted in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1900 on 6 August 1900.
For the 1903 parliamentary session, the UERL announced bills for the BS&WR and its other tube railways, seeking permission to merge the three companies by transferring the BS&WR's and CCE&HR's powers to the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
(GNP&BR). The BS&WR bill also included requests for a further extension of time and for powers to compulsorily purchase land for an electrical sub-station at Lambeth. The merger was rejected by parliament, but the land purchase and extension of time were permitted separately in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1903 and the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (Extension of Time) Act, 1903, both given assent on 11 August 1903.
For the 1904 parliamentary session, the BS&WR bill, sought permission to add new stations at Lambeth
, Regent's Park
and Edgware Road
. The new stations were permitted in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1904 given assent on 22 July 1904.
. Caissons
were sunk into the river bed from which the tunnels were constructed in each direction using tunnelling shield
s operated in an atmosphere of compressed air to prevent water leaking into the excavations. Occasionally air escaped through the river bed causing water spouts in the river. The tunnel linings were formed from cast iron segments inch (2.22 cm) thick, which locked together to form a ring with an internal diameter of 12 feet (3.66 m). Once a ring was completed, grout
was injected through holes in the segments to fill any voids between the outside edge of the ring and the excavated ground beyond, reducing subsidence
.
By November 1899 the northbound tunnel had reached Trafalgar Square and work on some of the station sites had been started, but the collapse of the L&GFC in 1900 led to works gradually coming to a halt. When the UERL was constituted in April 1902, 50 per cent of the tunnelling and 25 per cent of the station work had been completed. With funds in place, work restarted and proceeded at a rate of 73 feet (22.25 m) per week, so that by February 1904 virtually all of the tunnels and underground parts of the stations between Elephant & Castle and Marylebone were complete and works on the station buildings were under way. The additional stations were incorporated as work continued elsewhere and Oxford Circus station had to be altered below ground following a Board of Trade
inspection, but, at the end of 1905, the first test trains began running on the system. Although the BS&WR had permission to continue to Paddington, no work was undertaken beyond Edgware Road.
The BS&WR used a Westinghouse
automatic signalling system operated through electrified track circuit
s. This controlled signals based on the presence or absence of a train on the track ahead. Signals incorporated an arm that was raised when the signal was red. If a train failed to stop at a red signal, the arm would activate a "tripcock
" on the train; applying the brakes automatically.
Stations were provided with surface buildings designed by architect Leslie Green
in the UERL house-style. This consisted of two-storey steel-framed buildings faced with red glazed terracotta
blocks, with wide semi-circular windows on the upper floor. Except for Embankment, which had a sloping passageway down to the platforms, each station was provided with between two and four lifts
and an emergency spiral staircase in a separate shaft. At platform level, the wall tiling featured the station name and an individual geometric pattern and colour scheme designed by Green.
, chairman of the London County Council
, took place on 10 March 1906. Shortly after the line's opening, the London Evening News
coined the abbreviated name "Baker-loo", which quickly caught-on and began to be used officially from July 1906, appearing on contemporary maps of the tube lines.
The railway had stations at:
The section to Edgware Road was completed and brought into service in two stages:
While construction was being finished, trains operated out of service beyond Baker Street; reversing at a crossover to the east of the station under construction at Marylebone.
and assembled in Manchester. The carriages operated as electric multiple unit
trains without the need for separate locomotives. Passengers boarded and left the trains through folding lattice gates at each end of cars; these gates were operated by Gate-men who rode on an outside platform and announced station names as trains arrived. The design was subsequently used for the GNP&BR and the CCE&HR, and became known on the Underground as the 1906 stock
or Gate stock
. Trains for the line were stabled at the London Road depot south of Kennington Road station.
The lower than expected passenger numbers were partly due to competition between the tube and sub-surface railway companies, but the introduction of electric trams and motor buses, replacing slower, horse-drawn road transport, took a large number of passengers away from the trains. The problem was not limited to the UERL; all of London's seven tube lines and the sub-surface MDR and Metropolitan Railway were affected to some degree. The reduced revenues generated from the lower passenger numbers made it difficult for the UERL and the other railways to pay back the capital borrowed, or to pay dividends to shareholders.
From 1907, in an effort to improve their finances, the UERL, the C&SLR, the CLR and the GN&CR began to introduce fare agreements. From 1908, they began to present themselves through common branding as the Underground. The W&CR was the only tube railway that did not participate in the arrangement as it was owned by the mainline L&SWR.
The UERL's three tube railway companies were still legally separate entities, with their own management, shareholder and dividend structures. There was duplicated administration between the three companies and, to streamline the management and reduce expenditure, the UERL announced a bill in November 1909 that would merge the Bakerloo, the Hampstead and the Piccadilly Tubes into a single entity, the London Electric Railway (LER), although the lines retained their own individual branding. The bill received assent on 26 July 1910 as the London Electric Railway Amalgamation Act, 1910.
, the company had been unable to decide on a route beyond Paddington and had postponed further construction while it considered options. In November 1905, the BS&WR announced a bill for 1906 that replaced the route from Edgware Road to Paddington approved in 1900 with a new alignment. This had the tunnels crossing under the Paddington basin with the station under London Street. The tunnels were to continue south-east beyond the station as sidings, to end under the junction of Grand Junction Road and Devonport Street (now Sussex Gardens and Sussex Place). The changes were permitted in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1906 on 4 August 1906, but the south-east alignment did not represent a suitable direction to continue the railway and no effort was made to construct the extension.
In 1908, the Bakerloo Tube attempted to make the hoped for extension into north-west London using the existing powers of the North West London Railway (NWLR), an unbuilt tube railway with permission to build a line from Cricklewood
to Victoria station. The NWLR announced a bill in November 1908 seeking to construct a 757 metres (2,483.6 ft) connection between its unbuilt route beneath the Edgware Road and the Bakerloo Tube's Edgware Road station. The NWLR route to Victoria was to be abandoned south of the connection and the Bakerloo Tube's planned route to Paddington was to be built as a shuttle line from Edgware Road, which was to be provided with two additional platforms for shuttle use. The Bakerloo Tube was to construct the extension and operate the service over the combined route, which was to have stations at St John's Wood Road, Abercorn Place, Belsize Road, (close to the LNWR station
), Brondesbury
(to interchange with the North London Railway's station
and close to the MR's Kilburn station
), Minster Road and Cricklewood
. The Bakerloo Tube announced its own bill to make the necessary changes to its existing plans.
The GWR objected to the reduction of the Bakerloo Tube's Paddington connection to a shuttle and the MR objected to the connection of the two lines which would be in competition with its line through Kilburn
. Parliament rejected the proposed connection and the changes to the NWLR's route and the company's permissions eventually expired without any construction work being carried out. The Bakerloo Tube bill was withdrawn.
In November 1910, the LER (of which the Bakerloo Tube was now part), revived plans for the Paddington extension when it published a bill for the 1911 parliamentary session. The new route, ran 890 metres (2,919.9 ft), in a tight curve from Edgware Road station; initially heading south before turning to the north-west, which provided a more practical direction for a future extension. The bill was supported by the GWR with funding of £18,000. The London Electric Railway Act, 1911 received Royal Assent on 2 June 1911. Construction started in August 1911, and was completed in a little over two years. The extension opened on 1 December 1913, with the single new station at Paddington. Following their successful introduction at Earl's Court in 1911, the station was the first on the line to be designed to use escalator
s instead of lifts.
obtained parliamentary permission to improve its mainline services into London by the construction of a pair of new, electrified tracks alongside its existing line between Watford Junction
in Hertfordshire and Queen's Park
, Kilburn and a new tube section beneath its lines from there to its terminus at Euston
. At Euston, the tube tunnel was to end with an underground station located on a 1450 metres (4,757.2 ft) long loop beneath the mainline station.
The LNWR began construction work on the surface section of the new tracks in 1909. By 1911, it had modified the plans to omit the underground section and to split its proposed electrified services into three. The first section was to follow the existing surface route into Euston on newly electrified tracks, the second section was to connect with the North London Railway's tracks at Chalk Farm
and continue on electrified tracks from there to Broad Street station in the City of London
. The third section involved the extension of the Bakerloo Tube from Paddington to Queen's Park.
With the extension to Paddington still under construction, the LER published a bill in November 1911 for the continuation to Queen's Park. The extension was to continue north from Paddington, running past Little Venice, to Maida Vale before curving north-west to Kilburn and then west to parallel the LNWR main line, before coming to the surface a short distance to the east of Queen's Park station. Three intermediate stations were to be provided: on Warwick Avenue
at the junction with Warrington Avenue, Clifton Villas and Clifton Gardens, at the junction of Elgin and Randolph Avenues (named Maida Vale
) and on Cambridge Avenue (named Kilburn Park
). The LNWR gave a £1 million loan to the LER at 4% interest in perpetuity to help finance the extension. The bill received Assent on 7 August 1912 as the London Electric Railway Act, 1912.
Progress on the section from Paddington to Queen's Park was slowed by the start of World War I, so the line was not finished until early 1915. As at Paddington, the three below ground stations were built to use escalators. Maida Vale and Kilburn Park were provided with buildings in the style of the earlier Leslie Green stations but without the upper storey; no longer required for housing lift gear. Warwick Avenue was accessed from a subway under the street. The LNWR rebuilt Queen's Park station with additional platforms for the Bakerloo Tube's and its own electric services and constructed two train sheds for rolling stock, one each side of the station.
Although the tracks were completed to Queen's Park, delays to the completion of the stations caused the extension to open in stages:
North of Queen's Park, the LNWR had opened its new lines between Willesden Junction and Watford during 1912 and 1913, together with new stations at Harlesden
, Stonebridge Park
, North Wembley
, Kenton
and Headstone Lane
. The new tracks between Queen's Park and Willesden Junction opened on 10 May 1915, when Bakerloo Tube services were extended there. On 16 April 1917, the tube service was extended to Watford Junction. North of Queen's Park, the Bakerloo Tube served the following stations:
For the extension to Queen's Park, the LER supplemented the existing rolling stock with 14 new carriages ordered from Brush Traction
and Leeds Forge Company
plus spare Gate stock carriages from the GNP&BR. These carriages, the 1914 stock
, were the first to have doors in the sides of the carriages as well as the ends. For the longer extension to Watford, the LER and the LNWR ordered 72 new tube carriages from the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
. Manufacture of this rolling stock was delayed by the war, and, while it was waiting for delivery, the Bakerloo Tube used spare 1915 stock
carriages ordered for an unfinished extension of the CLR to Ealing Broadway
and more spare Gate stock carriages from the GNP&BR. Delivery of the carriages for the Watford service, known as the Watford Joint stock
because ownership was shared with the LNWR, began in 1920; they were painted in the LNWR's livery to distinguish them from trains operating only on the Bakerloo Tube's tracks.
announced a proposal for the Bakerloo Tube to be extended to The Crystal Palace
via Camberwell Green
, Dulwich
and Sydenham Hill
, but nothing was done to implement the plan. In 1921, the LER costed an extension to Camberwell, Dulwich and Sydenham and, in 1922, plans for an extension to Orpington
via Loughborough Junction
and Catford
were considered. In 1928, a route to Rushey Green
via Dulwich was suggested. Again, no action was taken, although the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee
approved an extension to Camberwell in 1926.
In 1931, an extension to Camberwell was approved as part of the London Electric Metropolitan District and Central London Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1931. The route was to follow Walworth Road and Camberwell Road south from Elephant and Castle, with stations at Albany Road and under Denmark Hill road at Camberwell. Elephant & Castle station was also to be reconstructed with a third platform, a new ticket hall and escalators. Financial constraints prevented any work from being started.
. Between 1925 and 1928, Piccadilly Circus station saw the greatest reconstruction. A large circular ticket hall was excavated below the road junction with multiple subway connections from points around the Circus and two flights of escalators down to the Bakerloo and Piccadilly platforms were installed.
(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 Council
lor (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 Metropolitan Railway 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 1 July 1933. On this date, the LER and the other Underground companies were liquidated
.
The plan for the extension to Camberwell was kept alive throughout the 1930s and, in 1940, the permission was used to construct sidings beyond Elephant & Castle. After the Second World War, the plans were revised again, with stations located under Walworth Road and Camberwell Green, and the extension appeared on tube maps in 1949. Rising construction costs caused by difficult ground conditions and restricted funds in the post-war austerity period, led the scheme to be cancelled again in 1950. Various proposals have been evaluated since, including an extension to Peckham
considered in the early 1970s, but the costs have always out-weighed the benefits
.
One of the LPTB's first acts in charge of the Bakerloo line was the opening of a new station at South Kenton
on 3 July 1933. As part of the LPTB's New Works Programme
announced in 1935, new tube tunnels were constructed from Baker Street to the former MR station at Finchley Road
and the Bakerloo line took over the stopping service to Wembley Park
and the MR's Stanmore branch
. The service opened in November 1939 and remained part of the Bakerloo line until 1979 when it transferred to the Jubilee line
.
The Bakerloo line's Watford service frequency was gradually reduced and, from 1965 ran only during rush hours. In 1982, the service beyond Stonebridge Park was ended as part of the fall-out of the cancellation of the GLC's Fares Fair subsidies policy. A peak hours service was restored to Harrow & Wealdstone in 1984 and a full service was restored in 1989.
Whitaker Wright
James Whitaker Wright was an exceptionally wealthy English mining company owner. He became infamous when he committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud....
. In 1902, the BS&WR became a subsidiary of 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) controlled by American financier Charles Yerkes
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes was an American financier, born in Philadelphia. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.-Philadelphia:...
. The UERL quickly raised the funds, mainly from foreign investors.
When opened in 1906, the BS&WR's line served nine stations and ran completely underground in a pair of tunnels for 5.81 kilometres (3.61 mi) between its northern terminus at Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
and its southern terminus at Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
with a depot on a short spur nearby at London Road. Extensions between 1907 and 1913 took the northern end of the line to the terminus of the 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...
(GWR) at Paddington. Between 1915 and 1917, it was further extended to Queen's Park
Queen's Park station
Queen's Park station is a station served by London Underground and London Overground. It is in West Kilburn at the southern end of Salusbury Road, near the public park from which it takes its name...
, where it came to the surface and connected with the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
(LNWR), and to Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
; a total distance of 33.34 kilometres (20.72 mi).
Within the first year of opening it became apparent to the management and investors that the estimated passenger numbers for the BS&WR and the other UERL lines were over-optimistic. Despite improved integration and cooperation with the other tube railways and the later extensions, the BS&WR struggled financially. In 1933, the BS&WR was taken into public ownership along with the UERL. Today, the BS&WR's tunnels and stations operate as 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 Bakerloo line
Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
.
Origin, 1891–93
In November 1891, notice was given 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 construction of the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR). The railway was planned to run entirely underground from the junction of New Street (now Melcombe Street) and Dorset Square west of Baker Street to James Street (now Spur Road) on the south side of Waterloo station. From Baker Street, the route was to run eastwards beneath Marylebone Road
Marylebone Road
Marylebone Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, within the City of Westminster. It runs east-west from the Euston Road at Regent's Park to the A40 Westway at Paddington...
, then curve to the south under Park Crescent
Park Crescent, London
Park Crescent is at the north end of Portland Place and south of Marylebone Road in London, England. It consists of elegant stuccoed semicircular terraced houses by the architect John Nash work started in 1806, but the builder Charles Mayor went bankrupt after 6 houses had been built and was only...
and follow Portland Place
Portland Place
Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London, England.-History and topography:The street was laid out by the brothers Robert and James Adam for the Duke of Portland in the late 18th century and originally ran north from the gardens of a detached mansion called Foley House...
, Langham Place and Regent Street
Regent Street
Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...
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...
. It was then to run under Haymarket, Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
and Northumberland Avenue
Northumberland Avenue
Northumberland Avenue is a London street, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to The Embankment in the east. The avenue was built on the site of Northumberland House, the London home of the Percy family, the Dukes of Northumberland....
before passing 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,...
to Waterloo station. A decision had not been made between the use of cable haulage or electric traction as the means of pulling the trains. The promoters of the BS&WR were motivated by the recent success of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), the world's first deep-tube railway. This had opened in November 1890 and had seen large passenger numbers in its first year of operation. One of the benefits put forward by the railway company was its use by West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
businessmen as a way to get quickly to Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
north of Baker Street after work for the last hour of play.
Bills for three similarly inspired new underground railways were also submitted to Parliament for the 1892 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...
, and, to ensure a consistent approach, a Joint Select Committee was established to review the proposals. The committee took evidence on various matters regarding the construction and operation of deep-tube railways, and made recommendations on the diameter of tube tunnels, method of traction, and the granting of wayleaves
Easement
An easement is a certain right to use the real property of another without possessing it.Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond...
. After rejecting the construction of stations on land owned by the Crown Estate
Crown Estate
In the United Kingdom, the Crown Estate is a property portfolio owned by the Crown. Although still belonging to the monarch and inherent with the accession of the throne, it is no longer the private property of the reigning monarch and cannot be sold by him/her, nor do the revenues from it belong...
and the Duke of Portland
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland
William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland KG, GCVO, PC, TD, DL , known as William Cavendish-Bentinck until 1879, was a British landowner, courtier and Conservative politician...
between 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 :...
and Baker Street, the Committee allowed the BS&WR bill to proceed for normal parliamentary consideration.
The route was approved and the bill 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 28 March 1893 as the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1893. Stations were permitted at Baker Street
Baker Street tube station
Baker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines...
, Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus tube station
-External links:* ** ** * Plans of the station after the Victoria Line works , , *...
, Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus tube station
Piccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
, Trafalgar Square
Charing Cross tube station
Charing Cross tube station is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster with entrances located in Trafalgar Square and The Strand. The station is served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines and provides an interchange with the National Rail network at station...
, Embankment
Embankment tube station
Embankment is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, known by various names during its history. It is served by the Circle, District, Northern and Bakerloo lines. On the Northern and Bakerloo lines, the station is between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations; on the Circle and...
and Waterloo
Waterloo tube station
Waterloo tube station is a London Underground station located at Waterloo station. It is the second busiest station on the network and is served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo & City lines...
. The depot would have been at the south end of the line at James Street and Lower Marsh
Lower Marsh
Lower Marsh is a street in the Waterloo neighbourhood of London, England. It is the location of Lower Marsh Market.The northern tip of the ancient parish of Lambeth was marshland known as Lambeth Marshe, but it was drained in the 18th century and is remembered in the Lower Marsh street name...
.
Search for finance, 1893–1903
Although the company had permission to construct the railway, it still had to raise the capitalFinancial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
for the construction works. The BS&WR was not alone; four other new tube railway companies were looking for investors – the Waterloo and City Railway (W&CR), the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) and the Great Northern and City Railway (GN&CR) (the three other companies that had been put forward bills in 1892) and the Central London Railway
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...
(CLR, which had received assent in 1891). The original tube railway, the C&SLR, was also raising funds to construct extensions to its existing line. Only the W&CR, which was the shortest line and was backed by the London and South Western Railway
London 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...
with a guaranteed 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...
, was able to raise its funds without difficulty. For the BS&WR and the rest, and others that came later, much of the remainder of the decade saw a struggle to find finance in an uninterested market.
Like most legislation of its kind, the act of 1893 imposed a time limit for the compulsory purchase
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. To keep the powers alive, the BS&WR announced a new bill in November 1895, which included an application for an extension of time. The additional time was granted when the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1896 received Royal Assent on 7 August 1896.
In November 1897, the BS&WR did a deal with the London & Globe Finance Corporation (L&GFC) a mining finance company operated by mining speculator Whitaker Wright
Whitaker Wright
James Whitaker Wright was an exceptionally wealthy English mining company owner. He became infamous when he committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud....
and chaired by Lord Dufferin
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, KP, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC was a British public servant and prominent member of Victorian society...
. The L&GFC was to fund and manage the construction; taking any profit from the process. The cost of construction was estimated to be £1,615,000 (equivalent to approximately £ today). The L&GFC replaced the BS&WR's directors with its own and let construction contracts. Wright had made fortunes in America and Britain by promoting gold and silver mines and saw the BS&WR as a way of diversifying the L&GFC's holdings.
In 1899, Wright fraudulently concealed large losses by one of the corporation's mines by manipulating the accounts of various L&GFC subsidiary companies. Expenditure for the BS&WR was also high, with the L&GFC having paid-out approximately £650,000 (£ today) by November 1900. In December 1900, Wright's fraud was discovered and the L&GFC and many of its subsidiaries collapsed.
The BS&WR struggled on for a time, funding the construction work by making calls on the unpaid portion of its shares, but activity eventually came to a stop. In March 1902, Charles Yerkes
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes was an American financier, born in Philadelphia. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.-Philadelphia:...
' consortium came to the rescue of the BS&WR when it purchased the company for £360,000 plus interest (£ today). American financier Yerkes, who had been lucratively involved in the development of Chicago's tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way system in the 1880s and 1890s, had come to London in 1900 and purchased a number of the struggling underground railway companies. The BS&WR became a subsidiary of 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 Yerkes had formed to raise funds to build the tube railways and to electrify
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
the Metropolitan District Railway
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...
. The UERL was capitalised
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
at £5 million with the majority of share
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...
s sold to overseas investors. Further share issues followed, which raised a total of £18 million by 1903 (equivalent to approximately £ today) for use across all of the UERL's projects.
BS&WR bill, 1896
While the BS&WR raised money, it continued to develop the plans for its route. The November 1895 bill sought powers to modify the planned route of the tunnels at the Baker Street end of the line and extend them approximately 200 metres (656.2 ft) beyond their previous end point at the south-eastern corner of Dorset Square to the south-eastern corner of Harewood Square.Harewood Square was to be the site of Marylebone stationMarylebone station
Marylebone station , also known as London Marylebone, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. It stands midway between the mainline stations at Euston and Paddington, about 1 mile from each...
, the new London terminus of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.-Origin:...
's extension from the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
then under construction.Approval for the extension and a new station at Marylebone were included in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1896.
New Cross & Waterloo Railway bill, 1898
On 26 November 1897, details of a bill proposed for the 1898 parliamentary session were published by the New Cross and Waterloo Railway (NC&WR), an independent company promoted by James HeathSir James Heath, 1st Baronet
Sir James Heath, 1st Baronet was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Clifton College....
MP, which planned two separate sections of tube line which would connect directly to the BS≀ extending the line south-east from Waterloo and east from around Marylebone Road.
The southern of the NC&WR's two extensions was planned to connect with the BS&WR tunnels under Belvedere Road to the west of Waterloo station and head east under the mainline station to its own station under Sandell Street adjacent to Waterloo East station
Waterloo East railway station
Waterloo East station, also known as London Waterloo East, is a railway station in central London on the line from through London Bridge to Kent. It is managed by Southeastern and is in Travelcard Zone 1...
. The route was then planned to run under Waterloo Road
Waterloo Road, London
Waterloo Road is a road straddling Lambeth and Southwark, London, England. It runs between Westminster Bridge Road close to St George's Circus at the south-east end and Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames towards London's West End district at the north-west end.At the northern end near the...
, St George's Circus
St George's Circus
St George's Circus is a road junction in Southwark, London, England. At its centre, which is now a traffic roundabout, is a historic obelisk, designed by Robert Mylne , in his role as surveyor and architect of Blackfriars Bridge.-History:...
and London Road
London Road, Southwark
London Road is a road in Southwark, southeast London, England, which connects St George's Circus and the Elephant and Castle roundabout . To the east is the campus of London South Bank University including the Technopark building and the London Road Building, in a triangle formed by London Road,...
to Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
. The route then followed New Kent Road
New Kent Road
New Kent Road is a road in the London Borough of Southwark. The road was created in 1751 when the Turnpike Trust upgraded a local footpath. This was done as part of the general road improvements associated with the creation of Westminster Bridge; in effect it was possible to travel from the West...
and Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road
The Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. The street is famous as the equal cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London....
as far as the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its apex, practically the whole coastline of Sussex as its base, and a large part of Surrey...
's Old Kent Road station
Old Kent Road railway station
Old Kent Road railway station was a station in South London. It opened on 13 July 1866 on a viaduct and bridge crossing the road at a junction with a line to London Bridge and what became Surrey Quays tube station on the East London Line and Queen's Road Peckham railway station on the Inner South...
(closed in 1917). Intermediate stations were to be constructed at St George's Circus, Elephant and Castle (where the NC&WR station would interchange with the C&SLR's station
Elephant & Castle tube station
Elephant & Castle tube station is a station on the London Underground system. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark and on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2...
below ground and link to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's station
Elephant & Castle railway station
Elephant & Castle railway station serves the area of Elephant & Castle in London, England. The station is managed by First Capital Connect, with services operated by both First Capital Connect and Southeastern...
above ground), in New Kent Road at Munton Road, at the junction of New Kent Road and Old Kent Road, and on Old Kent Road at the junctions with Mina Road, Bowles Road and Commercial Road (now Commercial Way). A power station was planned on the south side of Old Kent Road where it crossed the Grand Surrey Canal
Grand Surrey Canal
The Grand Surrey Canal was a canal constructed in south London, England during the early 19th century. It opened to the Old Kent Road in 1807, to Camberwell in 1810, and to Peckham in 1826. Its main cargo was timber. It closed progressively from the 1940s, with all but the Greenland Dock closing in...
(now filled-in) at the junction with St James's Road. This would have provided a delivery route for fuel and a source of water. Tunnels were also planned to connect the BS&WR's proposed depot at Waterloo to the NC&WR's route enabling trains to enter and exit in two directions.
The NC&WR's other planned extension was to branch from the BS&WR's curve under Park Crescent. It was then to curve eastwards under Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
and then run under Longford Street and Drummond Street to end at a station on the west side of Seymour Street (now Eversholt Street) under Euston station
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
. An intermediate station was planned for the junction of Drummond Street and Hampstead Road.
The bill was deposited in Parliament, but no progress was made in the 1898 session and it disappeared afterwards, although the BS&WR presented a modified version of the Euston branch in a bill for the 1899 session.
BS&WR bill, 1899
Construction work began in August 1898, although the BS&WR was continuing to develop new route plans. The bill for 1899, published on 22 November 1898, requested more time for the construction works and proposed two extensions to the railway and a modification to part of the previously approved route. The first extension, like the NC&WR's plan from the year before, was to branch from the already approved route under Park Crescent, but then followed a more northerly route than the NC&WR, running under Regent's ParkRegent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
to cross the park's Outer Circle between Chester Road and Cumberland Gate where a station was to be constructed. The route then followed Cumberland Street West (now Nash Street), Cumberland Market
Cumberland Market
Cumberland Market was a London market between Regent's Park and Euston railway station. It was built in the early 19th century and was London's hay and straw market for a hundred years until the late 1920s. An arm of the Regent's Canal was built to the market. The market was surrounded by modest...
, Cumberland Street East and Edward Street (both now Varndell Street), before ending at a station under Cardington Street on the west side of Euston station.
The second extension was to continue the line west from Marylebone; running under Great James Street and Bell Street (now both Bell Street) to Corlett Street then turning south to reach the Grand Junction Canal
Grand Junction Canal
The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford...
's Paddington Basin
Paddington Basin
Paddington Basin is an area of Paddington, London named after the nearby canal basin.The junction of the Regent's Canal and the Grand Junction Canal is close to this point but the basin itself is the terminus of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Junction Canal. It was opened in 1801...
to the east of the GWR's
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...
Paddington station. A station was to be located directly under the east-west arm of the basin before the line turned north-west, running between the mainline station and the basin, before the two tunnels merged into one. The single tunnel was then to turn north-east, passing under the Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London....
to the east of Little Venice, before coming to the surface where a depot was to be built on the north side of Blomfield Road. The BS&WR also planned a power station at Paddington. The final change to the route was a modification at Waterloo to move the last section of the line southwards to end under Addington Street.
The Metropolitan Railway
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...
(MR), London's first underground railway which had been operating between Paddington and Euston over the northern section of the Inner Circle since 1863, saw the BS&WR's two northern extensions as competition for its own service and strongly objected. Parliament accepted the objections; when the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1899 received Royal Assent on 1 August 1899, only the extension of time and the route change at Waterloo were approved
BS&WR bill, 1900
In November 1899, the BS&WR announced a bill for the 1900 session. Again, an extension was proposed from Marylebone to Paddington, this time terminating to the east of the mainline station at the junction of Bishop's Road (now Bishop's Bridge Road) and Gloucester Terrace. A station was planned under Bishop's Road, linked to the mainline station by a subway under Eastbourne Terrace. From Waterloo, an extension was planned to run under Westminster Bridge RoadWestminster Bridge Road
Westminster Bridge Road is a short, but busy, road in London, England. It runs on an east-west axis and passes through the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark....
and St George's Road
St George's Road
St George's Road is a road in Southwark, London running between Westminster Bridge Road to the northwest and Elephant and Castle to the southeast. Its name derives from its crossing of St George's Fields, being an open rural area of the parish of St George the Martyr, Southwark...
to terminate at Elephant and Castle. The BS&WR would connect there to the CS&LR's station as the NC&WR had planned two years earlier. A spur was to be provided to a depot and power station that were to be constructed on the site of the School for the Indigent Blind south of St George's Circus.
The Paddington extension was aligned to allow a westward extension to continue to Royal Oak
Royal Oak tube station
Royal Oak tube station is a station of the London Underground, on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between and stations. The station is on Lord Hills Bridge and is in Travelcard Zone 2 for the London Underground. Although not heavily used at other times, the station is extremely busy...
or Willesden
Willesden
Willesden is an area in North West London which forms part of the London Borough of Brent. It is situated 5 miles north west of Charing Cross...
, areas already served by the MR, which again opposed the plans. This time, the BS&WR was successful and Royal Assent for the extensions was granted in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1900 on 6 August 1900.
Minor changes, 1902–04
To make up for the time lost following the collapse of the L&GFC and to restore the BS&WR's finances, the company published a bill in November 1901, which sought another extension of time and permission to change its funding arrangements. The bill was approved as the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1902 on 18 November 1902.For the 1903 parliamentary session, the UERL announced bills for the BS&WR and its other tube railways, seeking permission to merge the three companies by transferring the BS&WR's and CCE&HR's powers to the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton 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...
(GNP&BR). The BS&WR bill also included requests for a further extension of time and for powers to compulsorily purchase land for an electrical sub-station at Lambeth. The merger was rejected by parliament, but the land purchase and extension of time were permitted separately in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1903 and the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (Extension of Time) Act, 1903, both given assent on 11 August 1903.
For the 1904 parliamentary session, the BS&WR bill, sought permission to add new stations at Lambeth
Lambeth North tube station
Lambeth North tube station is a London Underground station in the neighbourhood of Lambeth, at the junction of Westminster Bridge Road and Baylis Road. It is on the Bakerloo line, between Elephant & Castle and Waterloo, and is in Travelcard Zone 1...
, Regent's Park
Regent's Park tube station
Regent's Park tube station is a London Underground station by Regent's Park. It is on the Bakerloo line, between Baker Street and Oxford Circus...
and Edgware Road
Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo Line)
Edgware Road is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Bakerloo line and is between Paddington and Marylebone stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station is located on the north-east corner of the junction of Edgware Road, Harrow Road and Marylebone Road...
. The new stations were permitted in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1904 given assent on 22 July 1904.
Construction, 1898–1906
Construction commenced in August 1898 from a substantial temporary pier erected in the River Thames near Hungerford BridgeHungerford Bridge
The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. It is a steel truss railway bridge—sometimes known as the Charing Cross Bridge—flanked by two more recent, cable-stayed, pedestrian bridges that share the railway bridge's...
. Caissons
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
were sunk into the river bed from which the tunnels were constructed in each direction using 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...
s operated in an atmosphere of compressed air to prevent water leaking into the excavations. Occasionally air escaped through the river bed causing water spouts in the river. The tunnel linings were formed from cast iron segments inch (2.22 cm) thick, which locked together to form a ring with an internal diameter of 12 feet (3.66 m). Once a ring was completed, grout
Grout
Grout is a construction material used to embed rebars in masonry walls, connect sections of pre-cast concrete, fill voids, and seal joints . Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water, cement, sand, often color tint, and sometimes fine gravel...
was injected through holes in the segments to fill any voids between the outside edge of the ring and the excavated ground beyond, reducing 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...
.
Board 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...
inspection, but, at the end of 1905, the first test trains began running on the system. Although the BS&WR had permission to continue to Paddington, no work was undertaken beyond Edgware Road.
The BS&WR used a Westinghouse
Westinghouse Electric (1886)
Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...
automatic signalling system operated through electrified track circuit
Track circuit
A track circuit is a simple electrical device used to detect the absence of a train on rail tracks, used to inform signallers and control relevant signals.- Principles and operation :...
s. This controlled signals based on the presence or absence of a train on the track ahead. Signals incorporated an arm that was raised when the signal was red. If a train failed to stop at a red signal, the arm would activate a "tripcock
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...
" on the train; applying the brakes automatically.
Stations were provided with surface buildings designed by architect Leslie Green
Leslie Green
Leslie William Green was an English architect known especially for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century....
in the UERL house-style. This consisted of two-storey steel-framed buildings faced with red glazed terracotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a ceramic masonry building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the 1930s, and still one of the most common building materials found in U.S. urban environments...
blocks, with wide semi-circular windows on the upper floor. Except for Embankment, which had a sloping passageway down to the platforms, each station was provided with between two and four 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...
and an emergency spiral staircase in a separate shaft. At platform level, the wall tiling featured the station name and an individual geometric pattern and colour scheme designed by Green.
Opening
The official opening of the BS&WR by Sir Edwin CornwallEdwin Cornwall
Sir Edwin Andrew Cornwall, 1st Baronet PC DL was an English politician and coal merchant. Cornwall was born in Lapford, Devon. At the age of thirteen he became a clerk in a coal merchant's in Hammersmith, London, and by seventeen was manager of the company's depot at Kensington. A few years later...
, chairman of 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...
, took place on 10 March 1906. Shortly after the line's opening, the London Evening News
Evening News (London)
Evening News, formerly known as The Evening News, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London...
coined the abbreviated name "Baker-loo", which quickly caught-on and began to be used officially from July 1906, appearing on contemporary maps of the tube lines.
The railway had stations at:
- Baker StreetBaker Street tube stationBaker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines...
- Regent's ParkRegent's Park tube stationRegent's Park tube station is a London Underground station by Regent's Park. It is on the Bakerloo line, between Baker Street and Oxford Circus...
- Oxford CircusOxford Circus tube station-External links:* ** ** * Plans of the station after the Victoria Line works , , *...
- Piccadilly CircusPiccadilly Circus tube stationPiccadilly Circus tube station is the London Underground station located directly beneath Piccadilly Circus itself, with entrances at every corner...
- Trafalgar SquareCharing Cross tube stationCharing Cross tube station is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster with entrances located in Trafalgar Square and The Strand. The station is served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines and provides an interchange with the National Rail network at station...
(now Charing Cross) - EmbankmentEmbankment tube stationEmbankment is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, known by various names during its history. It is served by the Circle, District, Northern and Bakerloo lines. On the Northern and Bakerloo lines, the station is between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations; on the Circle and...
- WaterlooWaterloo tube stationWaterloo tube station is a London Underground station located at Waterloo station. It is the second busiest station on the network and is served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo & City lines...
- Kennington RoadLambeth North tube stationLambeth North tube station is a London Underground station in the neighbourhood of Lambeth, at the junction of Westminster Bridge Road and Baylis Road. It is on the Bakerloo line, between Elephant & Castle and Waterloo, and is in Travelcard Zone 1...
(later Westminster Bridge Road, now Lambeth North) - Elephant & CastleElephant & Castle tube stationElephant & Castle tube station is a station on the London Underground system. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark and on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2...
, opened 5 August 1906
The section to Edgware Road was completed and brought into service in two stages:
- Great Central (now Marylebone), on 27 March 1907
- Edgware RoadEdgware Road tube station (Bakerloo Line)Edgware Road is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Bakerloo line and is between Paddington and Marylebone stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station is located on the north-east corner of the junction of Edgware Road, Harrow Road and Marylebone Road...
, on 15 June 1907
While construction was being finished, trains operated out of service beyond Baker Street; reversing at a crossover to the east of the station under construction at Marylebone.
Rolling Stock
The service was provided by a fleet of 108 carriages manufactured for the UERL in the United States by the American Car and Foundry CompanyAmerican Car and Foundry Company
American Car and Foundry is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches under the brand names of ACF and ACF-Brill. Today ACF is known as ACF Industries LLC and is based in St. Charles, Missouri...
and assembled in Manchester. The carriages operated as electric multiple unit
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...
trains without the need for separate locomotives. Passengers boarded and left the trains through folding lattice gates at each end of cars; these gates were operated by Gate-men who rode on an outside platform and announced station names as trains arrived. The design was subsequently used for the GNP&BR and the CCE&HR, and became known on the Underground as the 1906 stock
London Underground 1906 Stock
The 1906 Stock, also known as "Gate Stock", was built for the Yerkes tube lines, Baker Street and Waterloo Railway , Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , and Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway ....
or Gate stock
London Underground 1906 Stock
The 1906 Stock, also known as "Gate Stock", was built for the Yerkes tube lines, Baker Street and Waterloo Railway , Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway , and Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway ....
. Trains for the line were stabled at the London Road depot south of Kennington Road station.
Co-operation and consolidation, 1906–10
Despite the UERL's success in financing and constructing the railway, its opening did not bring the financial success that had been expected. In the Bakerloo Tube's first twelve months of operation it carried 20.5 million passengers, less than sixty per cent of the 35 million that had been predicted during the planning of the line. The UERL's pre-opening predictions of passenger numbers for its other new lines proved to be similarly over-optimistic, as did the projected figures for the newly electrified MDR – in each case, numbers achieved only around fifty per cent of their targets.The lower than expected passenger numbers were partly due to competition between the tube and sub-surface railway companies, but the introduction of electric trams and motor buses, replacing slower, horse-drawn road transport, took a large number of passengers away from the trains. The problem was not limited to the UERL; all of London's seven tube lines and the sub-surface MDR and Metropolitan Railway were affected to some degree. The reduced revenues generated from the lower passenger numbers made it difficult for the UERL and the other railways to pay back the capital borrowed, or to pay dividends to shareholders.
From 1907, in an effort to improve their finances, the UERL, the C&SLR, the CLR and the GN&CR began to introduce fare agreements. From 1908, they began to present themselves through common branding as the Underground. The W&CR was the only tube railway that did not participate in the arrangement as it was owned by the mainline L&SWR.
The UERL's three tube railway companies were still legally separate entities, with their own management, shareholder and dividend structures. There was duplicated administration between the three companies and, to streamline the management and reduce expenditure, the UERL announced a bill in November 1909 that would merge the Bakerloo, the Hampstead and the Piccadilly Tubes into a single entity, the London Electric Railway (LER), although the lines retained their own individual branding. The bill received assent on 26 July 1910 as the London Electric Railway Amalgamation Act, 1910.
Paddington, 1906–13
Having planned a westward extension in 1900 to Willesden JunctionWillesden Junction station
Willesden Junction station is a Network Rail station in Harlesden, northwest London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and the Bakerloo line of the London Underground.-History:The station developed on three contiguous sites:...
, the company had been unable to decide on a route beyond Paddington and had postponed further construction while it considered options. In November 1905, the BS&WR announced a bill for 1906 that replaced the route from Edgware Road to Paddington approved in 1900 with a new alignment. This had the tunnels crossing under the Paddington basin with the station under London Street. The tunnels were to continue south-east beyond the station as sidings, to end under the junction of Grand Junction Road and Devonport Street (now Sussex Gardens and Sussex Place). The changes were permitted in the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act, 1906 on 4 August 1906, but the south-east alignment did not represent a suitable direction to continue the railway and no effort was made to construct the extension.
In 1908, the Bakerloo Tube attempted to make the hoped for extension into north-west London using the existing powers of the North West London Railway (NWLR), an unbuilt tube railway with permission to build a line from Cricklewood
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...
to Victoria station. The NWLR announced a bill in November 1908 seeking to construct a 757 metres (2,483.6 ft) connection between its unbuilt route beneath the Edgware Road and the Bakerloo Tube's Edgware Road station. The NWLR route to Victoria was to be abandoned south of the connection and the Bakerloo Tube's planned route to Paddington was to be built as a shuttle line from Edgware Road, which was to be provided with two additional platforms for shuttle use. The Bakerloo Tube was to construct the extension and operate the service over the combined route, which was to have stations at St John's Wood Road, Abercorn Place, Belsize Road, (close to the LNWR station
Kilburn High Road railway station
Kilburn High Road railway station is a London Overground station situated near the south end of the Kilburn High Road, London NW6 in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
), Brondesbury
Brondesbury
Brondesbury is an area of Kilburn in London, England. It is shared between the boroughs of Brent and Camden.-Nearest places:* Kilburn* Willesden* Kensal Green* Cricklewood-Nearest tube stations:* Kilburn * West Hampstead...
(to interchange with the North London Railway's station
Brondesbury railway station
Brondesbury is on the North London Line, on a viaduct crossing Kilburn High Road in the Brondesbury area of Kilburn in north-west London.It is approximately 200 metres south-east of station and half a mile north-west of station....
and close to the MR's Kilburn station
Kilburn tube station
Kilburn tube station is a London Underground station at Kilburn in north-west London. It is on the Jubilee Line, situated between Willesden Green and West Hampstead tube stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...
), Minster Road and Cricklewood
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is a district of North London, England whose northeastern part is in the London Borough of Barnet, western part is the London Borough of Brent and southeastern part is in London Borough of Camden.-History:...
. The Bakerloo Tube announced its own bill to make the necessary changes to its existing plans.
The GWR objected to the reduction of the Bakerloo Tube's Paddington connection to a shuttle and the MR objected to the connection of the two lines which would be in competition with its line through Kilburn
Kilburn tube station
Kilburn tube station is a London Underground station at Kilburn in north-west London. It is on the Jubilee Line, situated between Willesden Green and West Hampstead tube stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...
. Parliament rejected the proposed connection and the changes to the NWLR's route and the company's permissions eventually expired without any construction work being carried out. The Bakerloo Tube bill was withdrawn.
In November 1910, the LER (of which the Bakerloo Tube was now part), revived plans for the Paddington extension when it published a bill for the 1911 parliamentary session. The new route, ran 890 metres (2,919.9 ft), in a tight curve from Edgware Road station; initially heading south before turning to the north-west, which provided a more practical direction for a future extension. The bill was supported by the GWR with funding of £18,000. The London Electric Railway Act, 1911 received Royal Assent on 2 June 1911. Construction started in August 1911, and was completed in a little over two years. The extension opened on 1 December 1913, with the single new station at Paddington. Following their successful introduction at Earl's Court in 1911, the station was the first on the line to be designed to use escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
s instead of lifts.
Queen's Park and Watford, 1911–17
In 1907, the LNWRLondon and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
obtained parliamentary permission to improve its mainline services into London by the construction of a pair of new, electrified tracks alongside its existing line between Watford Junction
Watford Junction railway station
On 23 January 1975, an express train from Manchester to Euston derailed just south of Watford Junction after striking some stillages that had fallen on to the track. It then collided with a sleeper service from Euston to Glasgow. The driver of the Manchester train was killed, and eight passengers...
in Hertfordshire and Queen's Park
Queen's Park station
Queen's Park station is a station served by London Underground and London Overground. It is in West Kilburn at the southern end of Salusbury Road, near the public park from which it takes its name...
, Kilburn and a new tube section beneath its lines from there to its terminus at Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
. At Euston, the tube tunnel was to end with an underground station located on a 1450 metres (4,757.2 ft) long loop beneath the mainline station.
The LNWR began construction work on the surface section of the new tracks in 1909. By 1911, it had modified the plans to omit the underground section and to split its proposed electrified services into three. The first section was to follow the existing surface route into Euston on newly electrified tracks, the second section was to connect with the North London Railway's tracks at Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is an area of north London, England. It lies directly to the north of Camden Town and its underground station is the closest tube station to the nearby, upmarket neighbourhood of Primrose Hill....
and continue on electrified tracks from there to Broad Street station 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...
. The third section involved the extension of the Bakerloo Tube from Paddington to Queen's Park.
Warwick Avenue tube station
Warwick Avenue tube station is a London Underground station near Little Venice in inner north-west London. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Paddington and Maida Vale stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
at the junction with Warrington Avenue, Clifton Villas and Clifton Gardens, at the junction of Elgin and Randolph Avenues (named Maida Vale
Maida Vale tube station
Maida Vale tube station is a London Underground station in Maida Vale in inner north-west London. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Kilburn Park and Warwick Avenue stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
) and on Cambridge Avenue (named Kilburn Park
Kilburn Park tube station
Kilburn Park tube station is a London Underground station at Kilburn in the London Borough of Brent. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Queen's Park and Maida Vale stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
). The LNWR gave a £1 million loan to the LER at 4% interest in perpetuity to help finance the extension. The bill received Assent on 7 August 1912 as the London Electric Railway Act, 1912.
Progress on the section from Paddington to Queen's Park was slowed by the start of World War I, so the line was not finished until early 1915. As at Paddington, the three below ground stations were built to use escalators. Maida Vale and Kilburn Park were provided with buildings in the style of the earlier Leslie Green stations but without the upper storey; no longer required for housing lift gear. Warwick Avenue was accessed from a subway under the street. The LNWR rebuilt Queen's Park station with additional platforms for the Bakerloo Tube's and its own electric services and constructed two train sheds for rolling stock, one each side of the station.
Although the tracks were completed to Queen's Park, delays to the completion of the stations caused the extension to open in stages:
- Warwick AvenueWarwick Avenue tube stationWarwick Avenue tube station is a London Underground station near Little Venice in inner north-west London. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Paddington and Maida Vale stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
, on 31 January 1915 - Maida ValeMaida Vale tube stationMaida Vale tube station is a London Underground station in Maida Vale in inner north-west London. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Kilburn Park and Warwick Avenue stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
, on 6 June 1915 - Kilburn ParkKilburn Park tube stationKilburn Park tube station is a London Underground station at Kilburn in the London Borough of Brent. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Queen's Park and Maida Vale stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
, on 31 January 1915 - Queen's ParkQueen's Park stationQueen's Park station is a station served by London Underground and London Overground. It is in West Kilburn at the southern end of Salusbury Road, near the public park from which it takes its name...
, on 11 February 1915
North of Queen's Park, the LNWR had opened its new lines between Willesden Junction and Watford during 1912 and 1913, together with new stations at Harlesden
Harlesden station
Harlesden station is a Network Rail station on Acton Lane in north London, served by London Overground and by London Underground Bakerloo line trains. The railway line here is the border between the Harlesden and Stonebridge residential area in the east, and the Park Royal industrial estate to the...
, Stonebridge Park
Stonebridge Park station
Stonebridge Park station is a Network Rail station in Tokyngton, in the London Borough of Brent. It is served by London Overground and London Underground services, which use the same platforms....
, North Wembley
North Wembley station
North Wembley station is a Network Rail station served by London Overground and London Underground services. It is between South Kenton to the north, and Wembley Central to the south. It is located on the south side of East Lane in North Wembley...
, Kenton
Kenton station
Kenton station is a railway station served by London Underground and London Overground trains. It is located on the south side of Kenton Road in Kenton, a short walk from Northwick Park station on the London Underground Metropolitan Line.-History:The station was one of several built on the London...
and Headstone Lane
Headstone Lane railway station
Headstone Lane is a railway station near Headstone, in the London Borough of Harrow. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5.-Services:The typical off-peak service is three trains per hour to London Euston, and three trains per hour to Watford Junction, calling at all stations...
. The new tracks between Queen's Park and Willesden Junction opened on 10 May 1915, when Bakerloo Tube services were extended there. On 16 April 1917, the tube service was extended to Watford Junction. North of Queen's Park, the Bakerloo Tube served the following stations:
- Kensal GreenKensal Green stationKensal Green station is a Network Rail station served by London Underground Bakerloo line and London Overground trains. It is located in College Road, London NW10 close to the junction with Harrow Road...
- Willesden JunctionWillesden Junction stationWillesden Junction station is a Network Rail station in Harlesden, northwest London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and the Bakerloo line of the London Underground.-History:The station developed on three contiguous sites:...
- HarlesdenHarlesden stationHarlesden station is a Network Rail station on Acton Lane in north London, served by London Overground and by London Underground Bakerloo line trains. The railway line here is the border between the Harlesden and Stonebridge residential area in the east, and the Park Royal industrial estate to the...
- Stonebridge ParkStonebridge Park stationStonebridge Park station is a Network Rail station in Tokyngton, in the London Borough of Brent. It is served by London Overground and London Underground services, which use the same platforms....
- Wembley for SudburyWembley Central stationWembley Central is a Network Rail station served by London Underground Bakerloo Line, London Overground , Southern and a few London Midland services. It is located in the High Road of Wembley, northwest London...
(now Wembley Central) - North WembleyNorth Wembley stationNorth Wembley station is a Network Rail station served by London Overground and London Underground services. It is between South Kenton to the north, and Wembley Central to the south. It is located on the south side of East Lane in North Wembley...
- KentonKenton stationKenton station is a railway station served by London Underground and London Overground trains. It is located on the south side of Kenton Road in Kenton, a short walk from Northwick Park station on the London Underground Metropolitan Line.-History:The station was one of several built on the London...
- Harrow & Wealdstone
- Headstone LaneHeadstone Lane railway stationHeadstone Lane is a railway station near Headstone, in the London Borough of Harrow. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5.-Services:The typical off-peak service is three trains per hour to London Euston, and three trains per hour to Watford Junction, calling at all stations...
- Pinner & Hatch EndHatch End railway stationHatch End railway station is in the London Borough of Harrow, in north London, and in Travelcard Zone 6.It is located at .The station has two platforms. The northbound platform is on the side of the ticket office and cafe. The southbound platform is reached via a footbridge...
(later Hatch End for Pinner, now Hatch End) - Carpenders ParkCarpenders Park railway stationCarpenders Park railway station is in between the Hertfordshire suburb of Carpenders Park and the South Oxhey housing estate. It is south of Watford Junction on the Watford DC Line....
, opened 5 May 1919 - Bushey & OxheyBushey railway stationBushey railway station serves the towns of Bushey and Oxhey and is situated on the Watford DC Line, north of Harrow & Wealdstone. The station was renamed from "Bushey & Oxhey" to "Bushey" on 6 May 1974, even though it is actually sited in the neighbouring town of Oxhey, and the nearest part of...
(now Bushey) - Watford High StreetWatford High Street railway stationWatford High Street railway station is a railway station in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It is served by the Watford DC Line on the London Overground network.-Location:...
- Watford JunctionWatford Junction railway stationOn 23 January 1975, an express train from Manchester to Euston derailed just south of Watford Junction after striking some stillages that had fallen on to the track. It then collided with a sleeper service from Euston to Glasgow. The driver of the Manchester train was killed, and eight passengers...
For the extension to Queen's Park, the LER supplemented the existing rolling stock with 14 new carriages ordered from Brush Traction
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.-...
and Leeds Forge Company
Leeds Forge Company
The Leeds Forge Company manufactured corrugated furnaces for marine boilers and later, pressed steel railway vehicles, in Leeds, England.- Early history :The company was founded by Samson Fox, who was born in Bradford in 1838...
plus spare Gate stock carriages from the GNP&BR. These carriages, the 1914 stock
London Underground 1914 Stock
The 1914 Tube Stock was built for an extension of the BS&WR . Twelve motor cars were built, ten by Brush in Loughborough, England and two by the Leeds Forge Company...
, were the first to have doors in the sides of the carriages as well as the ends. For the longer extension to Watford, the LER and the LNWR ordered 72 new tube carriages from the Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
Metro Cammell
The Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company was a Birmingham, England based manufacturer of railway carriages and wagons, based in Saltley and subsequently Washwood Heath....
. Manufacture of this rolling stock was delayed by the war, and, while it was waiting for delivery, the Bakerloo Tube used spare 1915 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...
carriages ordered for an unfinished extension of the CLR to 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:...
and more spare Gate stock carriages from the GNP&BR. Delivery of the carriages for the Watford service, known as the Watford Joint stock
London Underground Watford Joint Stock
The Watford Joint Tube Stock was built for the service to Watford along both the Bakerloo tube and the London North Western Railway. As a result, the cars were owned by both the Underground and the London North Western Railway. To be able to operate on both lines, the car floors were higher than...
because ownership was shared with the LNWR, began in 1920; they were painted in the LNWR's livery to distinguish them from trains operating only on the Bakerloo Tube's tracks.
Camberwell and south-east London
The southern termination of the line at Elephant & Castle always presented the opportunity for the line to be extended further, to serve Camberwell and other destinations in south-east London. In 1913, the Lord Mayor of LondonLord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
announced a proposal for the Bakerloo Tube to be extended to The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
via Camberwell Green
Camberwell Green
Camberwell Green is a small area of common land in Camberwell, South London. It lies at the intersection of Camberwell Road and Camberwell New Road/Camberwell Church Street. At the North-East of the green is Camberwell Magistrate's Court, and at the North West is a home for the elderly...
, Dulwich
Dulwich
Dulwich is an area of South London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth...
and Sydenham Hill
Sydenham Hill
For other uses of 'Sydenham', see Sydenham .Sydenham Hill is a hill or ridge and a locality in South-East London and the name of a road which runs along the northern eastern part of the ridge and forms the boundary between the London Borough of Southwark and the London Borough of Lewisham. The...
, but nothing was done to implement the plan. In 1921, the LER costed an extension to Camberwell, Dulwich and Sydenham and, in 1922, plans for an extension to Orpington
Orpington
Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
via Loughborough Junction
Loughborough Junction railway station
Loughborough Junction railway station is in Brixton in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is between Elephant & Castle and Herne Hill stations and is served by First Capital Connect and at peak hours by Southeastern.-History:...
and Catford
Catford
Catford is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Architecture:...
were considered. In 1928, a route to Rushey Green
Rushey Green
Rushey Green is an electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ward covers most of central, northern and western Catford.-External links:*...
via Dulwich was suggested. Again, no action was taken, although the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee
London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee
The London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee was established in 1924 to advise the Minister of Transport on issues concerning traffic and transport in the London Traffic Area. It was abolished in 1965....
approved an extension to Camberwell in 1926.
In 1931, an extension to Camberwell was approved as part of the London Electric Metropolitan District and Central London Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1931. The route was to follow Walworth Road and Camberwell Road south from Elephant and Castle, with stations at Albany Road and under Denmark Hill road at Camberwell. Elephant & Castle station was also to be reconstructed with a third platform, a new ticket hall and escalators. Financial constraints prevented any work from being started.
Improvements, 1914–28
Overcrowding was a major problem at many stations where interchanges were available with other Underground lines and efforts were made in a number of places to improve passenger movements. In 1914, work was carried out to provide larger ticket halls and install escalators at Oxford Circus, Embankment and Baker Street. In 1923, further work at Oxford Circus provided a combined Bakerloo and CLR ticket hall and added more escalators serving the CLR platforms. In 1926, Trafalgar Square and Waterloo received escalators, the latter in conjunction with expansion of the station as part of the CCE&HR's extension to KenningtonKennington tube station
Kennington tube station is a London Underground station in Newington/ Walworth on Kennington Park Road, on both the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern Line. Its neighbours to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station...
. Between 1925 and 1928, Piccadilly Circus station saw the greatest reconstruction. A large circular ticket hall was excavated below the road junction with multiple subway connections from points around the Circus and two flights of escalators down to the Bakerloo and Piccadilly platforms were installed.
Move to public ownership, 1923–33
Despite closer co-operation and improvements made to the Bakerloo 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
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
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 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...
lor (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 Metropolitan Railway 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
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
– and came into existence on 1 July 1933. On this date, the LER and the other Underground companies were liquidated
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
.
Legacy
- For a history of the line after 1933 see Bakerloo lineBakerloo LineThe Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
The plan for the extension to Camberwell was kept alive throughout the 1930s and, in 1940, the permission was used to construct sidings beyond Elephant & Castle. After the Second World War, the plans were revised again, with stations located under Walworth Road and Camberwell Green, and the extension appeared on tube maps in 1949. Rising construction costs caused by difficult ground conditions and restricted funds in the post-war austerity period, led the scheme to be cancelled again in 1950. Various proposals have been evaluated since, including an extension to Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
considered in the early 1970s, but the costs have always out-weighed the benefits
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...
.
One of the LPTB's first acts in charge of the Bakerloo line was the opening of a new station at South Kenton
South Kenton station
South Kenton station is a Network Rail station served by London Underground Bakerloo Line and London Overground trains. It is between Kenton to the north, and North Wembley to the south...
on 3 July 1933. As part of the LPTB's 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...
announced in 1935, new tube tunnels were constructed from Baker Street to the former MR station at Finchley Road
Finchley Road tube station
Finchley Road tube station is a London Underground station at the corner of Finchley Road and Canfield Gardens in the London Borough of Camden, North London. It is on the Jubilee Line, between West Hampstead and Swiss Cottage and on the Metropolitan Line between Baker Street and Wembley Park. It is...
and the Bakerloo line took over the stopping service to Wembley Park
Wembley Park tube station
Wembley Park tube station is a London Underground station in Wembley Park, north west London. The station is served by the Underground's Metropolitan and Jubilee Lines and is in Travelcard Zone 4...
and the MR's Stanmore branch
Stanmore tube station
Stanmore tube station is a London Underground station at Stanmore. It is the northern terminus of the Jubilee Line; the previous station is Canons Park. It is in Travelcard Zone 5...
. The service opened in November 1939 and remained part of the Bakerloo line until 1979 when it transferred to the Jubilee line
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects...
.
The Bakerloo line's Watford service frequency was gradually reduced and, from 1965 ran only during rush hours. In 1982, the service beyond Stonebridge Park was ended as part of the fall-out of the cancellation of the GLC's Fares Fair subsidies policy. A peak hours service was restored to Harrow & Wealdstone in 1984 and a full service was restored in 1989.