The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an "
inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first part of the line opened using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...
s. The
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
operated all services until the District Railway introduced its own trains in 1871. The railway was soon extended westwards through
Earl's Court to
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...
,
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
,
Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Ealing was his ...
and
Hounslow. After completing the inner circle and reaching
Whitechapel in 1884, it was extended to
Upminster in Essex in 1902.
To finance electrification at the beginning of the 20th century, American financier
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. ( ; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.
Philadelphia
Yerkes was born into a Quaker family in the Northern Liberti ...
took it over and made it part of his
Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) group. Electric propulsion was introduced in 1905, and by the end of the year
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...
s operated all of the services. On 1 July 1933, the District Railway and the other UERL railways were merged with the Metropolitan Railway and the capital's tramway and bus operators to form the
London Passenger Transport Board.
Today, former District Railway tracks and stations are used by the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
's
District
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...
,
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cour ...
and
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...
lines.
History
Origins, 1863–1886
Inner Circle
In 1863, the
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
(also known as the Met) opened the world's first underground railway. The line was built from Paddington beneath the
New Road, connecting the main line railway termini at , and
King's Cross. Then it followed
Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London.
Route
Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing ...
to a station at Farringdon Street in
Smithfield, near the capital's financial heart in
the City.
The Met's early success prompted a flurry of applications to parliament in 1863 for new railways in London, many competing for similar routes. The
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
established a
select committee Select committee may refer to:
*Select committee (parliamentary system) A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system o ...
that recommended an "inner circuit of railway that should abut, if not actually join, nearly all of the principal railway termini in the Metropolis". For the 1864 parliamentary session, railway schemes were presented that met the recommendation in varying ways and a
joint committee composed of members of both Houses of Parliament reviewed the options.
Proposals to extend west and then south from Paddington to
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
and east from Moorgate to
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...
were accepted and received Royal Assent on 29 July 1864. To complete the circuit, the committee encouraged the amalgamation of two schemes proposed to run via different routes between Kensington and the City and a combined proposal under the name ''Metropolitan District Railway'' was agreed on the same day. Initially, the District and the Met were closely associated and it was intended that they would soon merge. The Met's chairman and three other directors were on the board of the District,
John Fowler was the engineer of both companies and the construction works for all of the extensions were let as a single contract. The District was established as a separate company to enable funds to be raised independently of the Met.
Unlike the Metropolitan, the route did not follow an easy alignment under existing roads and land values were higher, so compensation payments for property were much higher. Major landowners, including
Lord Kensington, sold parcels of land to the railway company. To ensure ventilation, the line west of Gloucester Road was carried in open cuttings, the rest mainly in a
cut and cover tunnel wide and deep; at the stations the platform ends were left open. Construction costs and compensation payments were so high that the cost of the first section of the District from South Kensington to
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
was £3 million, almost three times the cost of the Met's original, longer line. On 24 December 1868, the District opened its line from South Kensington to Westminster, with stations at
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
,
Sloane Square
Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the central London districts of Belgravia and Chelsea, located southwest of Charing Cross, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The area forms a boundary betwee ...
,
Victoria,
St James's Park and Westminster Bridge (now
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
), the Met extending eastwards from Brompton to a shared station at South Kensington on the same day.
The District also had parliamentary permission to extend westward from Brompton (Gloucester Road) station and, on 12 April 1869, it opened a single track line from there to
West Brompton
West Brompton is an area of south-west London, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary was traced by Counter's Creek, now lost ...
on the
West London Railway. There were no intermediate stations and this service initially operated as a shuttle. By summer 1869 additional tracks had been laid between South Kensington and Brompton (Gloucester Road) and from Kensington (High Street) to a junction with the line to West Brompton. During the night of 5 July 1870 the District secretly built the disputed
Cromwell curve connecting Brompton (Gloucester Road) and Kensington (High Street). East of Westminster, the next section ran in the newly constructed
Victoria Embankment
Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfar ...
built by the
Metropolitan Board of Works
The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London Coun ...
along the north bank of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
. The line was opened from Westminster to Blackfriars on 30 May 1870 with stations at Charing Cross (now
Embankment
Embankment may refer to:
Geology and geography
* A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea
* Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...
), The Temple (now
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
) and
Blackfriars.
The Met initially operated all services, receiving 55 per cent of the gross receipts for a fixed level of service. The District were also charged for any extra trains and the District's share of the income dropped to about 40 per cent. The District's level of debt meant that merger was no longer attractive to the Met and its directors resigned from the District's board. To improve its finances, the District gave the Met notice to terminate the operating agreement. Struggling under the burden of high construction costs, the District was unable to continue with the original scheme to reach Tower Hill and made a final extension of its line one station further east from Blackfriars to a previously unplanned City terminus at
Mansion House.
On Saturday 1 July 1871, an opening banquet was attended by the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
, who was also a shareholder. The following Monday, Mansion House opened and the District began running its own trains. From this date, the two companies operated a joint ''inner circle'' service between Mansion House and Moorgate Street via South Kensington and Edgware Road that ran every ten minutes. This was supplemented by a District service every ten minutes between Mansion House and West Brompton, and
Hammersmith & City Railway and
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
(GWR) suburban services between Edgware Road and Moorgate Street. The permissions for the railway east of Mansion House were allowed to lapse. At the other end of the line, the District part of South Kensington station opened on 10 July 1871 and
Earl's Court station opened on the West Brompton extension on 30 October 1871.
West to Putney Bridge, Richmond, Ealing and Hounslow
The District Railway's main expansion was to the west. A small station at
Earl's Court, between Gloucester Road and West Brompton, opened on 31 October 1871 with three platforms. Lillie Bridge depot, opened in 1872, was built parallel to the
West London Joint Railway and initially accessed by a curve onto the West London Line. This curve allowed, from 1 February 1872, the
London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) to run a half-hourly ''
outer circle'' service from
Broad Street to Mansion House via , Addison Road and Earls Court. From 1 October 1872, the GWR also ran a half-hourly ''
middle circle'' service from the Met's Moorgate Street station to Mansion House via Paddington and Earl's Court.
Permission to build a railway long to Hammersmith was granted on 7 July 1873, the independent Hammersmith Extension Railway having been formed to raise the necessary capital. The new line started from a junction on the curve to Addison Road and also allowed easier access to
Lillie Bridge Depot
Lillie Bridge Depot is a historic English traction maintenance depot on the London Underground Piccadilly and District lines, situated between West Brompton and West Kensington stations in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It i ...
. It opened on 9 September 1874 with one intermediate station at North End (Fulham) (renamed
West Kensington in 1877) and a terminus at
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...
, and was served by through trains to Mansion House. West Brompton was now served by a shuttle to Earl's Court. Earl's Court station burnt down in 1875 and a larger replacement with four tracks and two island platforms opened on 1 February 1878. This was sited to the west of the original station; to the east of the station a flying junction was built to separate traffic to Kensington (High Street) and from Gloucester Road.
In December 1876, six trains per hour ran on the ''inner circle'' between Mansion House and Aldgate. The District operated four trains per hour from Mansion House to Hammersmith. Also leaving every hour from Mansion House were two GWR ''middle circle'' services to Aldgate via Addison Road and two L&NWR services to Broad Street via Willesden Junction. Three services an hour travelled between West Brompton and Earl's Court.
In 1864 the
London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) had obtained permission for a railway to serve Richmond. The route headed north from Addison Road on the West London Railway before curving round to serve Hammersmith at a station at (linked to the Hammersmith & City Railway station by footbridge),
Turnham Green, Brentford Road (
Gunnersbury
Gunnersbury is an area of West London, England.
Toponymy
The name "Gunnersbury" means "Manor house of a woman called Gunnhildr", and is from an old Scandinavian personal name + Middle English -''bury'', manor or manor house.
Development
Gun ...
from 1871) and
Kew Gardens and
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
. The line opened on 1 January 1869, the L&SWR running services from
Waterloo and Ludgate Hill via Addison Road, and the L&NWR running services from Broad Street to Richmond from a link at Brentford Road to the North London Line at South Acton. Stations opened on the line at Shaftesbury Road (
Ravenscourt Park
Ravenscourt Park or RCP is an public park and garden located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England. It is one of the Borough's flagship parks, having won a Green Flag Award. Stamford Brook and Ravenscourt Park tube stations ar ...
from 1888) and
Shepherds Bush
Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Although primarily residential in character, ...
on 1 May 1874.
In 1875 permission was given for a link from the District station at Hammersmith to a junction just east of Ravenscourt Park. As the L&SWR line was on a
viaduct and the District line in a cutting, the line rose steeply. On 1 June 1877, the Hammersmith branch was extended to
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
, initially with a service of one train an hour to Mansion House. The Met and GWR Hammersmith & City line had access by a link just north of their Hammersmith station and diverted a service to Richmond from 1 October 1877.
From 1 May 1878 to 30 September 1880, the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
operated a circular service from to Earl's Court via Dudding Hill, Acton and the L&SWR to Hammersmith. In 1879 the District opened a junction west of L&SWR's Turnham Green station for a line to Ealing. With stations at Acton Green (now
Chiswick Park), Mill Hill Park (now
Acton Town
Acton Town is a London Underground station in the south-west corner of Acton, West London, in the London Borough of Ealing, close to the border with the London Borough of Hounslow. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly line ...
),
Ealing Common and
Ealing Broadway, the Ealing station was built just north of the GWR station. On 4 July 1878, permission was granted to extend the West Brompton branch as far as the Thames. Stations opened at Walham Green (now
Fulham Broadway), Parsons Green. The line terminated at Putney Bridge & Fulham (now
Putney Bridge). The line opened on 1 March 1880, in time for the
University Boat Race held that year on 22 March. Initially the service was two trains an hour to Mansion House, supplemented from 1 April by two trains an hour to High Street Kensington.
In 1866, permission had been granted to landowners in the
Hounslow area for a ''Hounslow and Metropolitan Railway'' to connect to a proposed Acton & Brentford Railway. However, this had never been built, but with the District now at Acton there was an alternative. Permission was granted in 1880 for a nearly railway from Mill Hill Park station to Hounslow Barracks, with stations at South Ealing, Boston Road and Spring Grove, and agreement reached for the District to work the line. On 1 May 1883 the District started a service to
Hounslow Town, calling at
South Ealing
South Ealing tube station is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Ealing. The station is on the Heathrow Airport branch of the Piccadilly line, between Acton Town and Northfields stations. It is located on South Ealing Road a ...
, Boston Road (now
Boston Manor) and
Osterley & Spring Grove (replaced by
Osterley). A single-track line from junction near Hounslow Town to Hounslow Barracks (now
Hounslow West) opened a year later in 1884. Traffic was light and Hounslow Barracks was initially served by a shuttle to Osterley & Spring Grove that connected to an off-peak Hounslow Town to Mill Hill Park train. Hounslow Town station closed in 1886 and Heston Hounslow station (now
Hounslow Central) opened.
From 1 March 1883 to 30 September 1885, via a connection to the GWR tracks at Ealing, the District ran a service to
Windsor.
Expansion, 1874–1900
Completing the circle
Conflict between the Met and the District and the expense of construction delayed the completion of the ''inner circle''. In 1874, frustrated City financiers formed the ''Metropolitan Inner Circle Completion Railway Company'' with the aim of finishing the route. The company was supported by the District railway and obtained parliamentary authority on 7 August 1874, but struggled with funding. The time allowed was extended in 1876. A meeting between the District and Metropolitan was held in 1877, the Met now wishing to access the
South Eastern Railway (SER) via the
East London Railway (ELR). Both companies promoted and obtained an Act of Parliament in 1879 for the extension and a link to the ELR. The Act also ensured future co-operation by allowing both companies access to the whole circle. A large contribution was made by authorities for road and sewer improvements. In 1882 the Met extended its line from
Aldgate
Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate.
The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...
to a temporary station at
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
. Two contracts to build joint lines were placed, one from Mansion House to the Tower in 1882 and a second from the circle north of Aldgate to Whitechapel with a curve onto the ELR in 1883. From 1 October 1884 the District and Metropolitan began local services from
St Mary's via this curve onto the East London Railway to SER's
New Cross station. After an official opening ceremony on 17 September and trial running, a circular service started on Monday 6 October 1884. On the same day the District extended its services to Whitechapel and over the ELR to New Cross, calling at new joint stations at
Aldgate East
Aldgate East is a London Underground station on Whitechapel High Street in Whitechapel, in London, England. It takes its name from the City of London ward of Aldgate, the station lying to the east of the ward (and the City). It is on the Hamme ...
and St Mary's. Joint stations opened on the circle line at
Cannon Street, Eastcheap (
Monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
from 1 November 1884) and
Mark Lane. The Met's Tower of London station closed on 12 October 1884 after the District refused to sell tickets to the station. After opening the District service from New Cross four trains an hour ran alternately to Hammersmith or Putney, but as passenger demand was low after a month this was reduced to two trains an hour to Ealing. Four trains an hour went from Whitechapel, two to Putney, one to Hammersmith and one to Richmond. The middle and outer circle services continued operating from Mansion House at two per hour each. Initially the ''inner circle'' service was eight trains an hour, completing the circuit in 81–84 minutes, but this proved impossible to maintain and service was reduced to six trains an hour with a 70-minute timing in 1885. Initially guards were permitted no relief breaks during their shift until September 1885 when they were permitted three 20-minute breaks.
South to Wimbledon and east to East Ham
Several schemes to cross the Thames at Putney Bridge to Guildford, Surbiton or Wimbledon had been proposed and received approval from Parliament, although the District had been unable to raise the necessary funding. In 1886 the L&SWR replaced these plans with the Wimbledon and Fulham Railway that started on the west side of
Wimbledon and crossing Thames to meet the District's Putney Bridge station. The line had intermediate stations at
Wimbledon Park,
Southfields
Southfields is a district of inner London located within the London Borough of Wandsworth, England, 5.6 miles (9 km) south-west of Charing Cross. Southfields is mainly residential, historically a part of Wandsworth itself, and is divided b ...
and
East Putney and a junction connected the line to the L&SWR's
Waterloo to Reading Line
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
just north of East Putney station. The District had running rights and extended some Putney services to Wimbledon on 3 June 1889.
In 1897 the nominally independent
Whitechapel & Bow Railway
The Whitechapel and Bow Railway was an underground railway in east London, United Kingdom, now entirely integrated into the London Underground system.Wolmar, C., ''Subterranean Railway'', (2004) It was a joint venture between the Metropolitan Dis ...
received permission for a link from the District Railway at
Whitechapel to the
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) at an above-ground junction at
Bow, to the west of
Bromley station. The LT&SR and District jointly took over the company the following year and the line opened on 2 June 1902 with new stations at
Stepney Green
Stepney Green Park is a park in Stepney, Tower Hamlets, London. It is a remnant of a larger area of common land. It was formerly known as Mile End Green. A Crossrail construction site occupies part of the green, with Stepney Green cavern belo ...
,
Mile End and
Bow Road. Some District services were extended from Whitechapel to
East Ham
East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186.
It was originally part of the hundred o ...
and one train each morning and evening ran through to
Upminster. In July 1902 four trains an hour ran from Bow Road (2 to 3 from East Ham) to Ealing or Wimbledon and two trains an hour from New Cross served Hammersmith or Richmond. The ''outer circle'' continued to run from Mansion House, the GWR's ''middle circle'' having started at Earl's Court from 1900.
The District sought to serve Harrow and Uxbridge and in 1892 a route from Ealing to Roxeth (South Harrow) was surveyed and a bill presented in the name of the nominally independent
Ealing and South Harrow Railway (E&SHR). Construction started in 1897 and by the end of 1899 it was largely complete, but with low traffic prospects remained unopened. To reach Uxbridge a line from South Harrow via Ruislip was authorised in 1897. The District had problems raising the finance and the Metropolitan offered a rescue package whereby they would build a branch from Harrow to Rayners Lane and take over the line to Uxbridge, with the District retaining running rights for up to three trains an hour. The Metropolitan built the railway to Uxbridge and began running services on 4 July 1904.
Electrification, 1900–1906
Development
At the start of the 20th century the District and Metropolitan railways faced increased competition in central London from new, electric, deep-level tube lines. The
City & South London Railway
The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...
had been a great success when it opened in 1890. After the opening of the
Central London Railway
The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railwayA "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a cylindrical tunnel by the use of a tunnelling shield, usually deep below g ...
in 1900 from Shepherd's Bush to the City with a flat rate fare of 2
d, the District and Metropolitan together lost four million passengers between the second half of 1899 and the second half of 1900. The use of steam propulsion led to smoke-filled stations and carriages that were unpopular with passengers and electrification was seen as the way forward. However, electric traction was still in its infancy and agreement would be needed with the Metropolitan because of the shared ownership of the ''inner circle''. A jointly owned train of six coaches successfully ran an experimental passenger service on the Earl's Court to High Street Kensington section for six months in 1900. Tenders were then requested and in 1901 a Metropolitan and District joint committee recommended the
Ganz
The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and t ...
three-phase
AC system with overhead wires. Initially this was accepted by both parties.
The District found an investor to finance the upgrade in 1901,
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. ( ; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.
Philadelphia
Yerkes was born into a Quaker family in the Northern Liberti ...
. On 15 July 1901, Yerkes established the Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company with himself as managing director and raised £1 million to carry out the electrification, including construction of the generating station and supplying the new rolling stock. Yerkes soon had control of the District Railway and his experiences in the United States led him to favour
DC with a track level
conductor rail similar to that in use on the City & South London Railway and Central London Railway. After arbitration by the
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
, the DC system was adopted.
The District had permission for a deep-level tube beneath the sub-surface line between Earl's Court and Mansion House and in 1898 bought the
Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway Brompton or The Brompton may refer to:
* Brompton, London
* Brompton, Hambleton, north of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England
* Brompton, Kent
* Brompton, Quebec, a borough of Sherbrooke, in Canada
* Brompton, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Engla ...
with authority for a tube from
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
to
Piccadilly Circus. These plans were combined with those of the
Great Northern and Strand Railway
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great
...
, a tube railway with permission to build a line from
Strand to
Wood Green
Wood Green is a suburban district in the borough of Haringey in London, England. Its postal district is N22, with parts in N8 or N15. The London Plan identifies it as one of the metropolitan centres in Greater London, and today it forms a m ...
, to create the
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London.A "tube" railway is an underground rail ...
(GNP&BR). The section of the District's deep-level tube from South Kensington to Mansion house was dropped from plans. In April 1902, the
Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) was established, with Yerkes as chairman, to control these companies and manage the planned works. On 8 June 1902, the UERL took over the Traction Company and paid off the company's shareholders with cash and UERL shares.
The UERL built a large power station that would be capable of providing power for the District lines and the underground lines planned. Work began in 1902 at Lots Road, by Chelsea Creek and in February 1905
Lots Road Power Station began generating electricity at 11 kV Hz, conveyed by high voltage cables to substations that converted this to approximately 550V DC.
While the power station was being built, the District electrified the Ealing to Harrow line that was not yet open. It was equipped with automatic signalling using
track circuits and pneumatic
semaphore signals, and trials were run with two seven car trains. In August 1903, an order was placed for 420 cars and a new maintenance depot was built west of Mill Hill Park (now Acton Town).
After the trials, the line to South Harrow opened in June 1903, from 23 June with a shuttle to Park Royal & Twyford Abbey (now
Park Royal
Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, partly in the London Borough of Brent and partly the London Borough of Ealing.
It is the site of the largest business park in London,
but despite intensive existing use, the area is, to ...
) for that year's
Royal Agricultural Show
The Royal Show, also known as the Royal Agricultural Show, was an annual agricultural show/ fair held by the Royal Agricultural Society of England every year from 1839 to 2009. The event encompassed all aspects of farming, food and rural life ...
. The rest of the line to South Harrow opened the following week on 28 June, with stations at
North Ealing, Park Royal & Twyford Abbey, Perivale-Alperton (now
Alperton),
Sudbury Town,
Sudbury Hill
Sudbury Hill is an area of the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London, England. It forms part of the HA1 postcode and Harrow post town.
Located immediately north of North Greenford and almost a mile from its namesake Sudbury, Sudbury H ...
and
South Harrow
South Harrow is the southern part of the town of Harrow, located south-west of Harrow-on-the-Hill in the London Borough of Harrow. Its development originally spread south and west from the hamlet of Roxeth in the urbanisation process and eas ...
.
Electric services
Electric services began on 13 June 1905 between Hounslow and South Acton, using the line from Mill Hill Park to South Acton for a passenger service for the first time. Hounslow Town station was reopened, trains reversing at the station before continuing to Hounslow Barracks using a new single track curve. On 1 July 1905 electric trains began running from Ealing to Whitechapel, and on the same day the Metropolitan and District railways both introduced electric units on the ''inner circle.'' However, a Metropolitan multiple unit overturned the positive current rail on the District Railway, and investigation showed an incompatibility between the way the shoe-gear was mounted on the Met trains and the District Railway track, and the Met trains were withdrawn from the District lines. After modification the Met returned and electric trains took over on 24 September, reducing the travel time around the circle from seventy to fifty minutes. By September, after withdrawing services over the unelectrified East London Line and the east of East Ham, the District were running electric services on all remaining routes. From December 1905 the L&NWR service was hauled by electric locomotives from Mansion House to Earl's Court, where a L&NWR steam locomotive took over.
In 1907 the weekday off-peak service was four trains per hour from East Ham to Ealing Broadway, four per hour from Mansion House to alternately Richmond and Wimbledon and two per hour from Wimbledon to High Street Kensington and Ealing Broadway to Whitechapel. Four trains per hour ran from Putney Bridge to Earl's Court, two continuing to High Street Kensington. From South Harrow there were two trains per hour to Mill Hill Park, and four trains per hour from Hounslow Barracks to Mill Hill Park, two of these continuing to South Acton.
Meanwhile, the UERL's GNP&BR tube railway was under construction, surfacing west of West Kensington and entering two terminal platforms on the north side of the District's Hammersmith station. A new station,
Barons Court, was built with two island platforms, one for each railway. As there was space at Lillie Bridge Depot after the District had moved to Mill Hill Park, the GNP&BR took over part of the site for its depot. Barons Court opened 9 October 1905 and the tube railway opened as the
Piccadilly line
The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are ...
on 15 December 1906.
London Underground, 1908–1933
Running an electric railway
In 1908 the UERL and the other underground railway companies in London came to a joint marketing arrangement that included maps, joint publicity and combined ticketing. U
NDERGROUND signs were used outside stations in Central London. The UERL eventually controlled all underground railways in London except the
Waterloo & City Railway
The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a London Underground shuttle line that runs between Waterloo and Bank with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Ham ...
, the Metropolitan Railway and its subsidiary the
Great Northern & City Railway
The Northern City Line is a commuter railway line in England, which runs from Moorgate station to Finsbury Park in London with services running beyond. It is part of the Great Northern Route services, and operates as the south-eastern branch ...
, and introduced station name boards with a red disc and a blue bar.
'Non-stop' working was introduced on the District in December 1907. Usually just a few stations were missed; trains were marked NON STOP or ALL STATIONS as appropriate and panels beside the doors listed the stations the train would skip. East of Bow Road station the District shared the tracks with steam engines and widening the railway to East Ham was considered essential. Four tracks were laid and two electrified as far as Barking, where the Tilbury and Upminster routes separated. On 1 April 1908 District trains were extended through to Barking and the work was largely finished in July 1908. After 2 May 1909 trains no longer reversed at Hounslow Town after the station was closed and a new Hounslow Town station opened on the direct route.
Since 1904, after the District had notified the Met that it would not use its running rights on the Uxbridge line with steam trains, it had not run services, although it paid the £2,000 a year that was due under the enabling Act. When the District suggested running as far as
Rayners Lane
Rayners Lane is a suburban district in the London Borough of Harrow that forms the western part of Harrow. Located between Pinner and West Harrow, it takes its name from a road in the area, also called Rayners Lane (formerly also spelt ''Rayner' ...
, the Met responded with a proposal to rebuild the station as a District terminus. The District proposed running trains through to Uxbridge, leading to negotiations about the charges for traction current before District services were extended to Uxbridge on 1 March 1910. In 1910 a platform was built at Mill Hill Park for the Hounslow and Uxbridge shuttles and a flying junction built north of the station to separate the Ealing and Hounslow traffic. The station was renamed Acton Town on 1 March 1910.
Between Turnham Green and Ravenscourt Park the District shared tracks with L&SWR steam trains to Richmond, a GWR steam service from Richmond to Ladbroke Grove and Midland coal trains. The District and L&SWR agreed to quadruple the tracks to allow a pair for the District's sole use and build a station on the District tracks at
Stamford Brook
Stamford Brook was a tributary of the Tideway stretch of the River Thames in west London supplied by three headwaters. Historically used as an irrigation ditch or dyke the network of small watercourses had four lower courses and mouths.
Histo ...
. The line was first used on 3 December 1911 and Stamford Brook opened on 1 February 1912. However, the GWR had already withdrawn their service and L&SWR was to withdraw in 1916. A flying junction separating the Richmond and Hammersmith routes west of Earl's Court opened in January 1914.
From 1910 to 1939 the ran through trains from Ealing Broadway to
Southend or
Shoeburyness, hauled to Barking by the District's electric locomotives that were no longer needed for the L&NWR's outer circle service, then pulled by steam locomotive. From 1912 two specially built sets of saloon coaches with retention toilets were used. In the 1920s the off-peak weekday service was a train every ten minutes from Wimbledon and Ealing and every fifteen minutes from Richmond. Six trains per hour ran from Putney Bridge to High Street Kensington. Trains from Hounslow left every 6–8 minutes, terminating at Acton Town or South Acton. Six trains per hour left Hammersmith for South Harrow, three continuing to Uxbridge. In 1925 the ''inner circle'' service was ten trains per hour in each direction, but this frequency of service caused problems. A reduction to eight would leave the Kensington High Street to Edgware Road section with too few trains. However the Metropolitan had recently rebuilt it with four platforms as part of an abandoned plan for a tube to Kilburn. The District extended its Putney to High Street service to Edgware Road and the Metropolitan provided all ''inner circle'' trains at a frequency of eight trains per hour.
In 1923 the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway had inherited the line to Barking, and in 1929 proposed quadrupling the line to Upminster and electrifying one pair of tracks for use by the District. On 12 September 1932 services started with new stations at
Upney
Upney is a London Underground station located on Upney Lane in Barking, east London. It is on the District line between station to the west and station to the east. It is along the line from the eastern terminus at and to in central Londo ...
and Heathway (now
Dagenham Heathway) with platforms only on the District tracks.
Piccadilly line extension
In November 1912 a bill was published that included a plan to extend the Piccadilly tube tracks westwards from Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR's
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, Californi ...
branch tracks.
[
] The bill passed as the ''London Electric Railway Act, 1913'' on 15 August 1913,
although the advent of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
prevented work on the extension.
Powers were renewed in 1926 for the quadruple track from Hammersmith to be extended to west of Acton Town, with the concept of the Piccadilly running non-stop on the inner pair. The proposed service split, with the Piccadilly running through to Harrow and Hounslow, was clarified by 1929. District services would run mainly through to Wimbledon, Richmond, Hounslow and Ealing, with shuttles from South Harrow to Uxbridge and Acton Town to South Acton.
With finance guaranteed by the ''Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act'' of 1929, construction started in 1930. Two additional tracks were built from west of Turnham Green to Northfields on the Hounslow branch. East of Turnham Green a freight loop was built for eastbound coal trains from Richmond to Kensington. Acton Town was rebuilt with five platforms, and a depot was built west of Northfields station.
Several stations were rebuilt in a
Modernist style influenced or designed by
Charles Holden, who was inspired by examples of Modernist architecture in mainland Europe. This influence can be seen in the bold vertical and horizontal forms, which were combined with the use of traditional materials like brick. Holden called them 'brick boxes with concrete lids'. Today, several of these Holden-designed stations are
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
s, including the prototype
Sudbury Town listed as Grade II*.
On 4 July 1932 the District service from Acton Town to South Harrow was withdrawn and one in three Piccadilly trains extended from Hammersmith to South Harrow, the District continuing to run a shuttle from South Harrow to Uxbridge. On 18 December 1932 all four tracks to Northfields opened and from 9 January 1933 Piccadilly trains started to run to Northfields, continuing to Hounslow West from 13 March 1933. District trains continued to run through to Hounslow off-peak, with a shuttle from South Acton.
London Passenger Transport Board, 1933
The UERL's ownership of the highly profitable
London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) since 1912 had enabled the UERL group, through the pooling of revenues, to use profits from the bus company to subsidise the less profitable railways. However, competition from numerous small bus companies during the early 1920s eroded the profitability of the LGOC and had a negative impact on the profitability of the group.
To protect the UERL group's income, its chairman
Lord Ashfield
Albert Henry Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, (8 August 1874 – 4 November 1948), born Albert Henry Knattriess, was a British-American businessman who was managing director, then chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London ...
lobbied the government for regulation of transport services in the London area. Starting in 1923, a series of legislative initiatives were made in this direction, with Ashfield and
Labour London County Councillor (later MP and Minister of Transport)
Herbert Morrison, at the forefront of debates as to the level of regulation and public control under which transport services should be brought. Ashfield aimed for regulation that would give the UERL group protection from competition and allow it to take control of the
LCC's tram system; Morrison preferred full public ownership. After seven years of false starts, a bill was announced at the end of 1930 for the formation of the
London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), a public corporation that would take control of the UERL, the Metropolitan Railway and all bus and tram operators within an area designated as the
London Passenger Transport Area
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...
. The Board was a compromise – public ownership but not full
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...
– and came into existence on 1933. On this date, ownership of the assets of the District and the other Underground companies transferred to the LPTB.
Legacy
The railway became the District line of
London Transport. From 23 October 1933 a Piccadilly line service replaced the Harrow to Uxbridge District shuttle. In 1923 the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) had taken over the L&NWR railway's outer circle service from Earl's Court and by the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
this had been cut back to an electrified Earl's Court to Willesden Junction shuttle. Following bombing of the West London Line in 1940 the LMS and the Metropolitan line services to Addison Road were both suspended. After the war, to serve the Kensington exhibition halls a District line shuttle service started from Earl's Court to Addison Road, now renamed Kensington Olympia.
The off-peak District Hounslow branch shuttle to South Acton was discontinued on 29 April 1935 and replaced by an Acton Town to South Acton shuttle. This shuttle was withdrawn on 28 February 1959, and the peak hour District line through service to Hounslow was withdrawn on 9 October 1964. In the 1970s the Hounslow branch became the Heathrow branch when it was extended to serve
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
, first on 19 July 1975 to serve
Hatton Cross and then on 16 December 1977 when
Heathrow Central opened. Later on 27 March 2008, the branch was extended to
Heathrow Terminal 5
Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Terminal 5 is currently used exclusi ...
.
Rolling stock
Steam locomotives
When in 1871 the District Railway needed its own locomotives, they ordered twenty four
condensing steam locomotive
A condensing steam locomotive is a type of locomotive designed to recover exhaust steam, either in order to improve range between taking on boiler water, or to reduce emission of steam inside enclosed spaces. The apparatus takes the exhaust stea ...
s from
Beyer Peacock
Beyer, Peacock and Company was an English railway locomotive manufacturer with a factory in Openshaw, Manchester. Founded by Charles Beyer, Richard Peacock and Henry Robertson, it traded from 1854 until 1966. The company exported locomotives, ...
similar to the
A Class locomotives the
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
was using on the route. As they were intended for an underground railway, the locomotives did not have cabs, but had a weatherboard with a bent-back top. The back plate of the
bunker was raised to provide protection when running bunker first. A total of fifty four locomotives were purchased. They were still in service in 1905 when the line was electrified, and all but six were sold the following year.
Electric locomotives
In 1905 the District bought ten
bogie box cab locomotives that looked similar to their multiple units but were only long. They were manufactured by the Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Company and most had a single cab at one end. Consequently, they were operated in pairs, coupled back to back with the cabs at the outer end.
The locomotives were used to haul L&NWR passenger trains on the electrified section of the ''Outer Circle'' route between
Earl's Court and
Mansion House. After December 1908 these services terminated at Earl's Court. The locomotives were used to haul District trains, one coupled to each end of a rake of four trailer cars. From 1910 the locomotives were used on
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) trains extended over the District line, taking over from steam locomotives at Barking.
Carriages
The steam carriages were four wheeled, long over the buffers. First, second and third class compartments were available. First class carriages had four compartments, the others five. Lighting was initially provided by burning coal gas held in bags on the roof, later by a pressurised oil gas system. At first they were fitted with a chain brake. This was replaced by the simple
Westinghouse brake
A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13, 1869. The ...
and then a fully automatic Westinghouse brake.
Initially trains were made up of eight carriages, but after 1879 nine became the standard. At the end of 1905 the District replaced 395 carriages with
electric multiple units. A preserved carriage at the
Kent and East Sussex Railway
The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company.
Historical compan ...
was thought to be a District Railway first class, but now thought likely to be a cutdown Metropolitan Railway eight wheeler.
Electric multiple units
In 1903 the District tested two seven-car trains with different control and brake systems on its unopened line between Ealing and South Harrow. Access to the car was by platforms with lattice gates at their ends and hand-operated sliding doors on the car sides. Later some trailer cars were fitted with driving controls and two and three car trains operated from Mill Hill Park to Hounslow and South Harrow and later Uxbridge until they were withdrawn in 1925.
The District Railway ordered 60 x 7-car electric trains in 1903. A third of the vehicles were made in England, the rest in Belgium and France and electrical equipment was installed on arrival at
Ealing Common Works. Access was by sliding doors, double doors in the centre and single doors at either end. First and third class accommodation were provided in open saloons with electric lighting. The seats were covered with rattan in third class and plush in first. From 1906 the standard formation was six cars, with an equal number of motor and trailer cars running in either two or four car formations off-peak. By 1910 the District required additional rolling stock and ordered cars largely constructed of steel. The first batch arrived in 1911, followed by more in 1912 from a different manufacturer but to a similar design. Further cars arrived in 1914 with an elliptical roof instead of the
clerestory roof on the earlier designs. In 1920 the District took delivery of new cars, incompatible with the existing fleet, with three hand-operated double sliding doors on each side.
In 1923 fifty motor car bodies were ordered to allow some of the original 1904–05 car bodies to be scrapped. From 1926 two stock pools were created. Main line trains were formed from 101 new motor cars supplemented by motor cars rebuilt from the steel bodied cars originally constructed in 1910–14 and 1923, and trailers modified from the original wooden bodied cars. A small pool of unmodified 'local stock' worked the shuttles from Acton Town to South Acton, South Harrow and Hounslow.
In 1932 the line to Upminster was electrified and new vehicles were purchased. After the District Railway became part of London Underground, similar cars were ordered to allow the Metropolitan line be extended to Barking and replace some of the rapidly deteriorating original wooden trailers. The 1935–40
New Works Programme fitted electro-pneumatic brakes and air-operated doors to most of the District line stock and allowed the remaining wooden cars to be scrapped. A number of motor cars were not suitable for conversion and so some trains retained their hand-worked doors and these ran until 1957.
a driving motor car built in 1923 is a static exhibit at
London Transport Museum at
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
.
See also
*
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
*
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
*
District line
*
Circle line
*
Metropolitan line
*
Hammersmith & City line
*
Piccadilly line
The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are ...
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
Snippet viewat google.com, retrieved 20 August 2012
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Snippet viewat google.com, retrieved 20 August 2012
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Other publications
*
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External links
Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides
Etchingof the "Works of the Metropolitan District Railway on the Thames Embankment at Westminster" published in
Illustrated London News. Available from ''flickr'' accessed 8 June 2012
Printdated 1866–67 of "The construction of the Metropolitan District Railway" near South Kensington. Available from ''Museum of London'', accessed 8 June 2012
Paintingby Jack Hill of a District Railway and a GNR steam trains at Farringdon. ''Basilica Fields'' (blog), accessed 8 June 2012
{{Authority control
Predecessor companies of the London Underground
Railway companies established in 1864
Railway companies disestablished in 1933
Transport in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Transport in Berkshire
Transport in the London Borough of Brent
Transport in the City of London
Transport in the London Borough of Ealing
Transport in Essex
Transport in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Transport in the London Borough of Harrow
Transport in the London Borough of Havering
Transport in the London Borough of Hillingdon
Transport in the London Borough of Hounslow
Transport in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Transport in the London Borough of Merton
Transport in the London Borough of Newham
Transport in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Transport in the London Borough of Wandsworth
Transport in the City of Westminster
Underground Electric Railways Company of London