Event    From 10/1/1863 

First underground passenger railway - Metropolitan

Categories: Transport

Event

Between Paddington and Farringdon. A grand opening on the 9th preceded the opening to the public on Saturday 10 January 1863.

“That afternoon Hetta trusted herself all alone to the mysteries of the Marylebone underground railway, and emerged with accuracy at King’s Cross. She had studied her geography, and she walked from thence to Islington.” This description of an early underground journey, by a woman alone, comes from the 1875 ‘The Way We Live Now’ by Anthony Trollope (p.385 in vol.2, Penguin 2001). Living in Welbeck Street Hetta probably got on at (Great) Portland Street.

See Metropolitan Railway Company for more information.

It's interesting that, in 1829, George Shillibeer had launched the first omnibus service on a quite similar route: Marylebone Road to the Bank. Both services were catering to the middle classes who lived to the west and worked in the City.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
First underground passenger railway - Metropolitan

Commemorated ati

Baker Street Station Restoration

The walls of both platforms are adorned with information boards giving the hi...

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First underground passenger railway - LT plaque

London's roads were heavily congested, the railways stopped on the fringes of...

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First underground railway - red plaque

Metropolitan Railway The world's first underground railway opened from Paddin...

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Regents Park Station

Great Portland Street  is a London Underground station on the Circle, Hammers...

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Other Subjects

Palace Gates Line

Palace Gates Line

The line was constructed by the Great Eastern Railway with a temporary terminus at Noel Park and Wood Green before being opened to Palace Gates. A connection to Bowes Park on the Hertford Loop Line...

Place, Transport

1 memorial
Sir Sam Fay

Sir Sam Fay

Railway administrator. Born in Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire, In 1872 he joined the London and South Western Railway as a clerk, and rose to become the last General Manager of the Great Central Railway...

Person, Transport

1 memorial
Southern Railway, 626 men who died in WW2

Southern Railway, 626 men who died in WW2

626 men of the Southern Railway who died in WW2.

Group, Transport

3 memorials
National Railway Heritage Awards

National Railway Heritage Awards

From their website: "We are the only Awards body dedicated to encouraging and rewarding best practice in the restoration and continued upkeep of our rich heritage of railway and tramway buildings a...

Group, Craft / Design, History, Transport

1 memorial