Event    From 10/1/1863 

First underground passenger railway - Metropolitan

Categories: Transport

First underground passenger railway - Metropolitan

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...

Read More

First underground passenger railway - LT plaque

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

Read More

First underground railway - red plaque

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

Read More

Regents Park Station

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

Read More

Other Subjects

Croydon Road Recreation Ground

Croydon Road Recreation Ground

The land was purchased by the Beckenham Local Board to provide a public open space which had been lacking since the loss of the Fair Field for housing in the 1870s. The site was part of open farmla...

Place, Gardens / Agriculture, Transport

1 memorial
C. Harman Wigan

C. Harman Wigan

Director of Vinot Cars Ltd. Andrew Behan has kindly carried out some research on this man: Cecil Harman Wigan was born on 7 June 1874 in Mortlake, Surrey, a son of James Wigan and Maria Branley He...

Person, Industry, Transport

1 memorial
first gas-lit street in the world

first gas-lit street in the world

The first public street lighting with gas was demonstrated in Pall Mall by Frederick Winsor in 1807.  In January he lit the street and in June he put on a special gas-lit exhibition here, celebrati...

Event, Engineering, Transport

2 memorials
Transport Trust

Transport Trust

The Transport Trust is a charitable institution that aims to increase and channel support for transport preservation, acting as the hub of the transport preservation movement. More about their pla...

Group, History, Transport

6 memorials