Chronography of London Underground
Page last modified 30 August 2023
London Underground (& tramways
etc.) For other London railways,
main line and suburban. see GB railways.
Live
tube map, https://traintimes.org.uk/map/tube/?
Railway opening,
closing, dates have been moved to the maps being published on Bookshop, UK changes.
For general underground (man
made or man used sites) matters check out Subterranea Britannica, https://www.subbrit.org.uk/
See
also underground-themed
images here.
1) Click here for
map of London�s pre-1952 tram network, maximum extent, also showing
proposed tram lines
2)
Click Here for more events relating to London
3)
Click here
for How Deep is Your Tube Station.
Map of depth/elevation of London tube stations, both absolute (to sea level)
and relative (to ground level. Also which stations are vulnerable to a 10 metre
tidal surge.
4)
Proposed Northern
Line Extension from Edgware.
5)
Proposed Northern Line Extension,
Edgware, general map
6)
Image of Chiswick Park station, 1880s and
now.
24 May 2022, London�s Elizabeth Line opened. It runs from Reading
to Shenfield, although passengers initially have to change at Paddington.
19 August 2016, A 24-hour service was introduced on parts of London
Underground�s Victoria and Central Lines.
2009, Work
on London�s Crossrail began.
2001, Lots Road power station, which had generated electricity for the London Underground,
became redundant.
17
December 1981, The
Law Lords ruled the Greater London
Council�s cheap fares policy, effectively subsidised from rates, was
illegal.
Rationalisation of services due to moderrnisation
31 October 1981, Blake Hall station on the
Central Line, London Underground,
closed.
It had been
the least-used station on the network, with an average 6 passengers a day.
4 October 1964, Services
on the Moorgate to Finsbury Park line, north London, were cut back to Drayton
Park to allow for Victoria Line trains at Finsbury Park, see 1 September 1968.
9 April 1964. The first driverless trains ran on the London Underground. They were
first trialled on the Central Line between Woodford and Hainault.
5 January 1964, The
first automatic ticket barrier on the London Underground was installed, at
Stamford Brook station.
1963, Construction of
London�s Victoria Line began.
20 August 1962, The UK Government approved plans for a new London Underground
line form Victoria to Walthamstow.
9 September 1961, London
Metropolitan line services north of Amersham were withdrawn. The last steam passenger services ran
on the London Underground; however some freight and works trains on L U
continued to be steam hauled until 1971.
1960, London�s Metropolitan line was electrified from Rickmansworth to Amersham and Chesham.
27 September 1960. Bank
Underground Station, London, opened the
first travelator, or moving
pavement, in Europe.
30 November 1947. In London, steam trains from Liverpool
Street ceased to run on the Chigwell to Newbury Park loop.
5
May 1947, In London, Central Line trains began running to Leytonstone.
4 December 1946, In London,
Central Line
trains began running to Stratford.
1 July 1946. London�s Aldwych to
Holborn spur line re-opened.� It had been closed during the War and used as an air raid
shelter
London Underground during World War Two - for full history of WW2
see France-Germany
3 March 1943, 173 people were crushed to
death whilst descending the stairs into Bethnal Green Underground station to shelter
during an air raid. A woman at the top of the stairs, carrying a child, slipped
and fell on those immediately in front of her, causing those below to lose their
balance too.
11 January 1941, Bank Underground station,
London, received a direct bomb hit during the Blitz. 51 died.
12 November 1940, Sloane Square London Underground station
received a direct bomb hit just as a train was leaving in the evening. 35
people were known killed and 2 hospitalised (some estimate a death toll of 79)
with three missing. Train services were running again 2 weeks after the event.
14 October 1940, At 8.02pm, a German World War Two
bomb made a direct hit on Balham Underground station, where hundreds of
people were sheltering from the air raid. Water rushed in as water mains and
sewage pipes burst. 68 people were killed.
13 October 1940, Bounds Green Underground station
was hit by a German bomb; 17 died and 20 were injured.
17 September 1940. Marble Arch became the first tube station
to be hit by German bombs. 20 died and over 40 were injured.
1 February 1940. First class travel was abolished on London�s Metropolitan and
District Railway. From then on, all travel on London transport was
single-class.
20 November 1939, Bakerloo
Line trains began through running to Stanmore from Baker Street.
8
March 1939, London Transport collected four million
used tickets, which were then analysed manually to see which were the most and
least used routes, in order to plan for future development.
17
May 1938, London Underground train
crash at Charing Cross, 6 killed.
1937, Rayners Lane station now handled 4 million passengers a year,
compared to 22,000 a year in 1930, as �Metroland� housing spread out across
Middlesex.
10/1935, The tram route from Shepherd�s Bush to Hounsow closed.
4 May 1935, London�s Leicester Square tube station opened.
1934, At Holborn, the
Picadilly and Central lines were connected by a subway and escalators.
Previously, passengers had to exit British Museum Station and cross High
Holborn to change.
1
July 1933, The new London passenger Transport Board came into
existence, coordinating all bus, tram and tube services within a radius of
20-30 miles of Charing Cross.
Only main line rail services were excluded. The tube map was also reorganised
according to a new design by Harry Beck. B3eck was paid 5 Guineas for
his map, the style of ehicvh has been widely copied around the world, and not
just for subway maps.
5
November 1932, London Transport changed the name of
Gillespie Road station to Arsenal after the local football club.
10 December 1928, In
London, the new Underground Station at Piccadilly Circus opened.
20
April 1924, The interchange at Camden Town between the
City and South London Lines and the Northern Line to Golders Green, Highgate,
came into use.
1 August 1917, London Underground extended the Bakerloo line with
a new tube station at Stonebridge Park.
1915, London�s last horse tram route (Tower Bridge to
Rotherhithe) was electrified.
22 March 1915, London
Underground extended the Metropolitan line, with a new station at North Harrow
4 October 1911. Britain�s first escalators were
introduced, connecting the District and Piccadilly lines at Earl�s Court
station in London.
1906, Lots Road power station
opened, for generationg power fot the London Underground.
10
March 1906, The Bakerloo Line,
London, opened between Baker Street and Elephant and Castle.
1904, Coin operated ticket machines were introduced, saving time
queueing.
1904, The street
tramway from London was extended from Southall to Uxbridge through Hayes.
Perivale station.
13 December 1904. London�s
Metropolitan Railway went electric.
1903, The� electric tram was
extended from Isleworth to Kingston and Hampton Court. The Clapham to Tooting
electric tramway opened.
6
February 1903, In the UK, a Royal Commission was set up to find a
solution to London�s traffic jams. Options
included new electric tramways, but these would take up valuable road space, or new tube
lines, following the success of the �twopenny tube� opened in 1900 from
Shepherds Bush to Bank (now the Central Line).
9
April 1902� In
London, the Underground Electric
Railways Company was formed.
1901, Trams began running from Purley via
Croydon to London; the service was withdrawn in 1951.
April 1901, London�s first electric
tramway began operations, from Shepherds
Bush along the Uxbridge Road to SActon and Kew, operated by London United
Tramways Ltd.
30 July 1900, Shepherd�s Bush station, West London, opened as
the western terminus of the Central Line.
8 August 1898, London�s Waterloo and City Railway opened.
18 December 1890, The Northern Line extension from Elephand
and castle to Stockwell opened to public use (official opening of Stockwell
Station by the future King Edward VII had been on 4 November 1890,
but the public were not then admitted to the trains)
1876, The
horse tramway from Shepherd�s Bush to Acton opened.
21
October 1896, James Greathead, engineer whose
invention, known as the Greathead Shield,
was crucial for the construction of the first London tube lines, died in
Streatham, south London (born 6 August 1844 in South Africa).
13
December 1870, The tramway from Blackheath Hill to
New Cross, London, opened.
9
May 1870, The North Metropolitan tramway,
London, opened along the Mile End Road from Whitechapel Church to Bow Church, 4
km.
7
December 1869, The East London Railway opened from New Cross Gate to Wapping. It used a former pedestrian tunnel
under the Thames that had opened in 1843. In 1876 a link with the Great Eastern
Railway at Bishopsgate was opened. In 1880 a branch from Surrey Docks began
operations. Until 1941 District Line trains from central London ran direct to
New Cross via the St Marys Curve, just west of Whitechapel, but after that date
the East London Line ran as a separate route, from Shoreditch.
First
London Undeground Line; the Metropolitan Line, Paddington to Farringdon Street,
1853-69
1 March 1869, London�s Metropolitan Railway, opened 10 January
1863 and operating on both broad and standard gauge, changed to standard gauge
only.
10 January 1863. London�s four mile long Metropolitan
Railway was opened by Gladstone.� The line had seven stations and ran from
Paddington to Farringdon Street. It was aimed at relieving growing congestion
on London�s streets. The railway company tried to relieve the public�s fears
about breathing in sulphurous fumes by claiming they were beneficial.
1853, UK Parliament authorised construction of the 3.75 mile
railway from Farringdon Street to Paddington. However construction did not start until 3/1860.
