Tube, Train, Tram, and Car; or, Up-to-date locomotionBeavan, Arthur H. (Arthur Henry)
History
Tube, Train, Tram, and Car; or, Up-to-date locomotion
Beavan, Arthur H. (Arthur Henry)
Electric automobiles; Electric railroads; Street-railroads -- England -- London
The feasibility of an Inner Circle Tube, however, linking together all
the lines, with ramifications to serve the suburbs, worked jointly under
a pooling arrangement by the various companies, has commended itself to
certain experts.
It is true that four of the great trunk lines are already connected by
subways with the Inner Circle Railway--the Great Eastern at Liverpool
Street; the Great Western at Praed Street; the London, Brighton, and
South Coast at Victoria; and the South Eastern and Chatham at Cannon
Street, Blackfriars, and Victoria. The Brighton Company has already a
subway connection between London Bridge and the City and South London
Tube Station there, and the Mansion House subway will by-and-by be
similarly connected with the City and South London Bank Station.
Also there are the purely suburban lines to be considered, such as the
South London Railway, worked by the Brighton Company; the Metropolitan
Extension, a part of the Chatham Company’s local system; the West London
Railway, which gives a north-to-south connection at Chelsea for several
companies; the Hammersmith and City Railway; the Hampstead Junction
Railway (from Willesden to Tottenham); and the local services of the
London and North Western; the Great Northern Railway (already committed
to a tube); and the Midland Railway, which, with the Great Northern,
has access to the south of London, _viâ_ Ludgate Hill.
But the matter now engaging public attention is not Subways, but
Tubes--how to disentangle the different schemes, and evolve order out of
chaos.
The Tubes open for traffic are the Waterloo and City Railway; the City
and South London Railway; Clapham Common to the “Angel,” Islington; and
the Central London from the Bank to Shepherd’s Bush. While those in
progress more or less advanced, are the Great Northern and City Railway;
the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway; the Bank to Finsbury Park;
the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway; Paddington to Waterloo, and
thence _viâ_ St. George’s Circus, Southwark, to the Elephant and Castle.
All last session members of the House of Commons were, so to speak,
overwhelmed with Tubes.
Tubes to the right of them,
Tubes to the left of them,
Tubes in front of them,
Volley’d and thundered!
But the Select Committees fared worse, the task before them being even
more arduous. There were promoters who sought for powers to construct
Tubes to cross and recross proposed and existing lines, and even to bore
parallel with others, while some wanted to create isolated and
disconnected sections, leading apparently nowhere. Petitions and
protests against the various schemes poured in from innumerable sources;
from every quarter petitions in favour were also laid down at their
feet. Truly, the members of the Committees found that of making many
Tubes (as of books) there was no end, and that much railway promoting
was a weariness of the flesh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account