User:ShakespeareFan00/Rail Transport in Britan/Metropolitan

A 'Metropolitan' Railway.

London's growth in the early 19th century was substantial. The "Metropolis" as it came to be known, was starting to see the daily journey of passengers around the city. With upwards of 200,000 people entering the City, London's commercial center daily and a very substantial freight traffic (still horse drawn), road space was filling up leading to congestion.

In 1846 a Government commission, prompted by various proposals had banned any further extension of surface railways into the City. At this point entered a London Solicitor Charles Pearson, who envisaged a railway beneath the streets, linking the mainline termini which were at the edges of the centre.

The Metropolitan Railway, opened in 1863, Pearson sadly not living to see the scheme completed. Initally the Metropolitan was dual gauge, but disagreements with the GWR soon saw the broad gauge rails out of use within months of opening.

Because of the nature of line almost entirely in tunnel, locomotives on the Metropolitan were somewhat unusal ( but by no means unique) in having the ability to "condense" used steam, so that it did not escape. The initial 18 engines built by Beyer-Peacock proved highly successful and the same basic design lasted until electrifcation.

However, much as the Metropolitan (and later the Metroplitan District) were succesful, a loop of tunnled line encircling the city by the 1870's, the limits of the "Metropolitan" railway, such as smoke-filled stations were all too evident. By the end of the 1890's the Board of Trade, had strongly urged that more of the line was 'opened' to the elements. Rapid improvments in technology however, superseded those plans.