Tunnel vision comes to fruition

The London Underground opens to a sceptical public

For its critics, the arrival of the London Underground marked the moment the capital descended into bedlam. The idea of a subterranean train had first been mooted in the 1840s, but work did not begin on what became the Metropolitan Railway until 1860.

What sceptics called “the Drain” was not universally popular. Some warned that the tunnels would collapse under the weight of the houses above; others thought an underground railway so infernal that convicted criminals should be “condemned to round trips”. And the construction work infuriated locals. It was all a “monstrous tyranny and oppression”, one grumbled.

But by January 1863, the first trains were ready to roll. On Friday 9 January, a special train packed with politicians made the first journey – though the prime minister, Lord Palmerston, declined to join then, explaining that at the age of 78, he wanted to spend as much time above ground as possible. All went well, and the next day, Saturday 10 January, it opened to the public.

To general astonishment, the capital’s new Underground proved a triumphant success. On that first day alone, 38,000 people descended into the earth to ride between Farringdon Street and Bishop’s Road, Paddington. The carriages were divided into three classes and lit by gas; as one pleasantly surprised passenger put it, they were “so lofty that a six-footer may stand erect with his hat on”.

“For the first time in the history of the world,” said The Daily News, “men can travel in pleasant carriages, and with considerable comfort, lower down than gas pipes and water pipes... lower down than the graveyard.”