Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway was the world's first underground passenger railway, opened on 10 January 1863 between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street using the cut-and-cover method through the New Road corridor of central London — and the unlikely starting point for what became London Underground, Metro-land, and the modern concept of the commuter suburb linked by rail to a city centre. The opening day carried 38,000 passengers, far exceeding expectations, and established immediately that underground urban railway travel would find its public.
The Metropolitan grew outward from its inner-London core with ambitions quite unlike a conventional underground railway: its extension to Aylesbury and ultimately Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire by 1892 took it 50 miles from the City into the Chiltern countryside, and the company pursued an active property development strategy along its routes — building suburban estates in what it marketed as 'Metro-land' and selling them with the promise of rapid, comfortable City connections. This combination of railway and property speculation created the distinctive suburban landscape of Middlesex, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire that bears the Metropolitan's indirect imprint to this day. The Chiltern Railway serves much of the same territory today.
The Metropolitan was electrified at 600 V DC from 1905, with steam locomotives continuing to work the outer-suburban services beyond Rickmansworth into the British Railways era. The company's steam locomotive fleet, maintained at Neasden Works, included tank engines designed specifically for the underground conditions of the inner sections and more conventional express tank engines for the outer Chiltern services. On 1 July 1933 the Metropolitan was absorbed into the London Passenger Transport Board, ending its independent existence; it survives today as the Metropolitan, Jubilee, and Hammersmith and City lines of London Underground.
About
The Metropolitan Railway was a British pre-grouping railway opened on 10 January 1863 between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street, the world's first underground passenger railway. Built using the cut-and-cover method along the line of the New Road (now Marylebone Road), the line was initially worked by GWR broad-gauge condensing locomotives, and was a quickly-popular success.
The Metropolitan went on to build a much larger system out into rural Buckinghamshire ('Metro-land') with the Aylesbury and Verney Junction extension reaching Buckinghamshire by 1892. From the 1900s the company increasingly operated as a property developer, building suburban estates along its lines and selling them with through services to the City.
The Met was electrified at 600 V dc third-rail (with fourth-rail return) from 1905, the standard subsequently adopted across the London Underground. Steam locomotives continued to work the outer-suburban services beyond Rickmansworth into the 1960s. On 1 July 1933 the Metropolitan Railway was absorbed into the new London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), and is today the Metropolitan, Jubilee and Hammersmith & City lines of London Underground.
