| rdfs:comment | - The first railways to be built in the United Kingdom were constructed in the early 19th century. By 1850 there were 7 separate railway termini located in the London area: London Bridge, Euston, Paddington, King's Cross, Shoreditch, Waterloo and Fenchurch Street. Only Fenchurch Street was located within the City of London itself. London had also seen a large increase in road traffic congestion in this period. This was due in part to the fact that most people travelling to London by rail had to complete their journeys into the city centre by cab or omnibus.
- From the Wikipedia page [1] In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) opened the world's first underground railway in London. From Paddington the line was built using the "cut-and-cover" method beneath the New Road, connecting the mainline railway termini at Paddington, Euston and King's Cross, and then followed Farringdon Road in tunnel and cuttings to a station at Farringdon Street in Smithfield, near the capital's financial heart in the City. The service was initially provided by gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives.
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| abstract | - The first railways to be built in the United Kingdom were constructed in the early 19th century. By 1850 there were 7 separate railway termini located in the London area: London Bridge, Euston, Paddington, King's Cross, Shoreditch, Waterloo and Fenchurch Street. Only Fenchurch Street was located within the City of London itself. London had also seen a large increase in road traffic congestion in this period. This was due in part to the fact that most people travelling to London by rail had to complete their journeys into the city centre by cab or omnibus. The concept of an underground railway linking the City of London with the mainline termini had first been proposed in the 1830s. But it was not until the 1850s that this idea was taken seriously. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City of London, was a leading promoter of several of these schemes. He helped set up the City Terminus Company in 1852 to build such a railway, but neither Parliament nor the City of London Corporation was willing to fund it. The Bayswater, Paddington and Holborn Bridge Railway Company was more successful. In January 1853 it held its first directors' meeting and appointed John Fowler as its engineer. Parliamentary approval for their "North Metropolitan Railway" project was secured in the summer of 1853. They soon acquired the City Terminus Company and came to an agreement with the Great Western Railway whereby the GWR would help fund the scheme provided that a junction was created with its Paddington terminus. In 1854 an Act of Parliament was passed approving the construction of an underground railway between Paddington and Farringdon Street via King's Cross, renaming the line the Metropolitan Railway. Construction finally began in February 1860, by which time Pearson had persuaded the City of London Corporation to give money to the project. The construction of the line encountered its fair share of problems. Fowler's use of the "cut-and-cover" method caused massive traffic disruption in north London and during the work the Fleet Sewer burst into the diggings and flooded the partially-built tunnels. This is not to mention the number of buildings that had to be demolished on the surface. However the railway eventually opened to the public on 10 January 1863. In its first few months of operation, an average of 26,500 passengers used the line every day. Pearson did not live to see the completion of the project. He died in September 1862. But his hard work and perseverance during his lifetime ensured that the Metropolitan Railway would be the start and not an end of underground railway building in London. Initially the railway was worked using GWR broad-gauge rolling stock. But in August 1863, after massive disagreement between the two companies, the MetR found itself having to work the line. With assistance from the Great Northern Railway this was achieved using standard gauge rolling stock: the broad gauge was removed in 1869. By the turn of the century the MetR had its foot in both the main-line and in the underground system for London. On 1 July 1913 the Metropolitan Railway bought the Great Northern and City Railway, which ran from Moorgate to Finsbury Park.
- From the Wikipedia page [1] In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) opened the world's first underground railway in London. From Paddington the line was built using the "cut-and-cover" method beneath the New Road, connecting the mainline railway termini at Paddington, Euston and King's Cross, and then followed Farringdon Road in tunnel and cuttings to a station at Farringdon Street in Smithfield, near the capital's financial heart in the City. The service was initially provided by gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The railway was soon extended from both ends and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. It reached Hammersmith in 1868, Richmond in 1877 and completed the Inner Circle in 1884, but the most important route became the line north into the Middlesex countryside where it stimulated the development of new suburbs. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line eventually extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, over 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Baker Street and the centre of London. Electric traction was introduced in 1905 and by 1907 electric multiple units operated most of the services, though electrification of outlying sections did not occur until decades later. Unlike other railway companies in the London area the Met developed land for housing and after World War I promoted housing estates near the railway with the "Metro-land" brand. On 1 July 1933, the Metropolitan Railway was amalgamated with the underground railways of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and the capital's tramway and bus operators to form the London Passenger Transport Board. Today, former Metropolitan Railway tracks and stations are used by the London Underground's Metropolitan Line, Circle Line, District Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Piccadilly Line and Jubilee Line. The Wikipedia page on the Metropolitan Railway Estates Company Ltd is [2].
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