The London Tube

The London underground tube system first began to be developed in the middle of the nineteenth century, as Charles Pearson proposed a notion referred to as ‘trains in drains’. It was in 1863 that the first underground line – the Metropolitan – opened, with 30,000 people using the service on the first day. The service became an immediate success story and around 11.8 million people utilised the Metropolitan underground line during the fist year of its’ existence and was considered to have been of benefit to the lowest paid workers who were able to utilise a cheaper early morning service, while also finding it much easier to get to work from outlying locations.

The success led to the development of further lines, with the District line running along the Victoria Embankment being next, followed by the Circle line, which provided a link between the existing two. However, antagonism between rival owners of the east and west lines ensured that the Circle line took over twenty years to complete, with the owners then refusing to sell tickets for each others lines, greatly inconveniencing passengers. The problems that ensued with the Circle line were typical of the development of the Underground, which was created on an ad hoc basis as and when private investment became available.
This meant that there was no central plan for the structuring of it, which has led to some areas having more than one station, each built by rival investors, and why there are some stations – usually referred to as ‘ghost stations’ – which are not needed and unused.

It was a man called Frank Pick, together with Lord Ashfield, who did most to create the modern London Underground system. He commissioned the simplified map in addition to being the first to successfully ‘brand’ the network, with the ‘roundel’ design still associated with the London Underground today. He was also responsible for the combining of the different transport systems in the city as London Transport, while securing public funding for them.