Origin, 1891–93 The idea of building an underground railway along the approximate route of the BS&WR had been put forward well before it came to fruition at the turn of the century. As early as 1865, a proposal was put forward for a
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway, powered by pneumatic propulsion. Carriages would have been sucked or blown a distance of three-quarters of a mile (about 1 km) from
Great Scotland Yard to Waterloo Station, travelling through wrought-iron tubes laid in a trench at the bottom of the Thames. The scheme was abandoned three years later after a financial panic caused its collapse. Sir
William Siemens of
Siemens Brothers served as electrical engineer for a later abortive scheme, the
Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway. It was incorporated by an act of Parliament, the
Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway Act 1882 (
45 & 46 Vict. c. cclv), in 1882 and got as far as constructing a stretch of tunnel under the
Victoria Embankment before running out of money. According to a pamphlet published by the BS&WR in 1906, the idea of constructing the line "originally arose from the desire of a few business men in
Westminster to get to and from
Lord's Cricket Ground as quickly as possible," to enable them to see the last hour's play without having to leave their offices too early. They realised that an underground railway line connecting the north and south of central London would provide "a long-felt want of transport facilities" and "would therefore prove a great financial success." They were inspired by the recent success of the
City and South London Railway (C&SLR), the world's first deep-tube railway, which proved the feasibility of such an endeavour when it opened in November 1890 and carried large numbers of passengers in its first year of operation. In November 1891, notice was given of a
private bill that would be presented to
Parliament for the construction of the BS&WR. The railway was planned to run entirely underground from the junction of New Street (now Melcombe Street) and Dorset Square west of Baker Street to James Street (now Spur Road) on the south side of
Waterloo station. From Baker Street, the route was to run eastwards beneath
Marylebone Road, then curve to the south under
Park Crescent and follow
Portland Place, Langham Place and
Regent Street to
Piccadilly Circus. It was then to run under
Haymarket,
Trafalgar Square and
Northumberland Avenue before passing under the
River Thames to Waterloo station. A decision had not been made between the use of cable haulage or electric traction as the means of pulling the trains. Bills for three similarly inspired new underground railways were also submitted to Parliament for the 1892
parliamentary session, and, to ensure a consistent approach, a
joint select committee was established to review the proposals. The committee took evidence on various matters regarding the construction and operation of deep-tube railways, and made recommendations on the diameter of tube tunnels, method of traction, and the granting of
wayleaves. After rejecting the construction of stations on land owned by the
Crown Estate and the
Duke of Portland between
Oxford Circus and Baker Street, the Committee allowed the BS&WR bill to proceed for normal parliamentary consideration. The route was approved and the bill received
royal assent on 28 March 1893 as the '''''' (
56 & 57 Vict. c. iv). Stations were permitted at
Baker Street,
Oxford Circus,
Piccadilly Circus,
Trafalgar Square,
Embankment and
Waterloo. The depot would have been at the south end of the line at James Street and
Lower Marsh.
Search for finance, 1893–1903 Although the company had permission to construct the railway, it still had to raise the
capital for the construction works. The BS&WR was not alone; four other new tube railway companies were looking for investors – the
Waterloo and City Railway (W&CR), the
Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) and the
Great Northern and City Railway (GN&CR) (the three other companies that were put forward in bills in 1892) and the
Central London Railway (CLR, which received royal assent in 1891). The original tube railway, the C&SLR, was also raising funds to construct extensions to its existing line. Only the W&CR, which was the shortest line and was backed by the
London and South Western Railway with a guaranteed
dividend, was able to raise its funds without difficulty. For the BS&WR and the rest, and others that came later, much of the remainder of the decade saw a struggle to find finance in an uninterested market. who took over the BS&WR in 1897|alt=Head and shoulders caricature of heavy-set male with goatee beard, small round spectacles and bald head looking to right Like most legislation of its kind, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act 1893 imposed a time limit for the
compulsory purchase of land and the raising of capital. To keep the powers alive, the BS&WR announced a new bill in November 1895, which included an application for an extension of time. The additional time and permission to raise an extra £100,000 of capital was granted when the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act 1896 (
59 & 60 Vict. c. ccxxvii) received royal assent on 7 August 1896. In November 1897, the BS&WR did a deal with the London & Globe Finance Corporation (L&GFC), a mining finance company operated by mining
speculator Whitaker Wright and chaired by
Lord Dufferin. The L&GFC was to fund and manage the construction, taking any profit from the process. The cost of construction was estimated to be £1,615,000 (equivalent to approximately £ today). The L&GFC replaced the BS&WR's directors with its own and let construction contracts. Wright made fortunes in America and Britain by promoting gold and silver mines and saw the BS&WR as a way of diversifying the L&GFC's holdings. In 1899, Wright fraudulently concealed large losses by one of the corporation's mines by manipulating the accounts of various L&GFC subsidiary companies. Expenditure for the BS&WR was also high, with the L&GFC having paid out approximately £650,000 (£ today) by November 1900. In its prospectus of November 1900, the company forecast that it would realise £260,000 a year from passenger traffic, with working expenses of £100,000, leaving £138,240 for dividends after the deduction of interest payments. Only a month later, however, Wright's fraud was discovered and the L&GFC and many of its subsidiaries collapsed. Wright himself subsequently committed suicide by taking
cyanide during his trial at the
Royal Courts of Justice. The BS&WR struggled on for a time, funding the construction work by making calls on the unpaid portion of its shares, but activity eventually came to a stop and the partly built tunnels were left derelict. Before its collapse, the L&GFC attempted to sell its interests in the BS&WR for £500,000 to an American consortium headed by Albert L. Johnson, but was unsuccessful. However, it attracted the interest of another American consortium headed by financier
Charles Yerkes. After some months of negotiations with the L&GFC's liquidator, Yerkes purchased the company for £360,000 plus interest (£ today). He was involved in the development of Chicago's
tramway system in the 1880s and 1890s. He came to London in 1900 and purchased a number of the struggling underground railway companies, The BS&WR became a subsidiary of the
Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) which Yerkes formed to raise funds to build the tube railways and to
electrify the
District Railway. The UERL was
capitalised at £5 million with the majority of
shares sold to overseas investors. Further share issues followed, which raised a total of £18 million by 1903 (equivalent to approximately £ today) for use across all of the UERL's projects.
Planning the route, 1893–1904 BS&WR bill, 1896 While the BS&WR raised money, it continued to develop the plans for its route. The November 1895 bill sought powers to modify the planned route of the tunnels at the Baker Street end of the line and extend them approximately beyond their previous end point at the south-eastern corner of Dorset Square to the south-eastern corner of Harewood Square. This area was to be the site of
Marylebone station, the new London terminus of the
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's extension from
the Midlands then under construction. Approval for the extension and a new station at
Marylebone were included in the '''''' (
59 & 60 Vict. c. ccxxvii).
New Cross & Waterloo Railway bill, 1898 On 26 November 1897, details of a bill proposed for the 1898 parliamentary session were published by the New Cross and Waterloo Railway (NC&WR), an independent company promoted by
James Heath MP, which planned two separate sections of tube line that would connect directly to the BS&WR, extending the line south-east from Waterloo and east from around Marylebone Road. The southern of the NC&WR's two extensions was planned to connect with the BS&WR tunnels under Belvedere Road to the west of Waterloo station and head east under the mainline station to its own station under Sandell Street adjacent to
Waterloo East station. The route was then planned to run under
Waterloo Road,
St George's Circus and
London Road to
Elephant and Castle. The route then followed
New Kent Road and
Old Kent Road as far as the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's
Old Kent Road station (closed in 1917). Intermediate stations were to be constructed at St George's Circus, Elephant and Castle (where the NC&WR station would interchange with the
C&SLR's station below ground and link to the
London, Chatham and Dover Railway's station above ground), in New Kent Road at Munton Road, at the junction of New Kent Road and Old Kent Road, and on Old Kent Road at the junctions with Mina Road, Bowles Road and Commercial Road (now Commercial Way). A power station was planned on the south side of Old Kent Road where it crossed the
Grand Surrey Canal (now filled-in) at the junction with St James's Road. This would have provided a delivery route for fuel and a source of water. Tunnels were also planned to connect the BS&WR's proposed depot at Waterloo to the NC&WR's route enabling trains to enter and exit in two directions. The NC&WR's other planned extension was to branch from the BS&WR's curve under Park Crescent. It was then to curve eastwards under
Regent's Park and then run under Longford Street and
Drummond Street to end at a station on the west side of Seymour Street (now Eversholt Street) under
Euston station. An intermediate station was planned for the junction of Drummond Street and Hampstead Road. The bill was deposited in Parliament, but no progress was made in the 1898 session and it disappeared afterwards, although the BS&WR presented a modified version of the Euston branch in a bill for the 1899 session.
BS&WR bill, 1899 Construction work began in August 1898, although the BS&WR was continuing to develop new route plans. The bill for 1899, published on 22 November 1898, requested more time for the construction works and proposed two extensions to the railway and a modification to part of the previously approved route. The first extension, like the NC&WR's plan from the year before, was to branch from the already-approved route under Park Crescent, but then followed a more northerly route than the NC&WR, running under
Regent's Park to cross the park's Outer Circle between Chester Road and Cumberland Gate where a station was to be constructed. The route then followed Cumberland Street West (now Nash Street),
Cumberland Market, Cumberland Street East and Edward Street (both now Varndell Street), before ending at a station under Cardington Street on the west side of Euston station. The second extension was to continue the line west from Marylebone, running under Great James Street and Bell Street (now both Bell Street) to Corlett Street, then turning south to reach the
Grand Junction Canal's
Paddington Basin to the east of the
GWR's Paddington station. A station was to be located directly under the east–west arm of the basin before the line turned north-west, running between the mainline station and the basin, before the two tunnels merged into one. The single tunnel was then to turn north-east, passing under the
Regent's Canal to the east of
Little Venice, before coming to the surface where a depot was to be built on the north side of
Blomfield Road. The BS&WR also planned a power station at Paddington. The final change to the route was a modification at Waterloo to move the last section of the line southwards to end under Addington Street. The aim of these plans was, as the company put it in 1906, "to tap the large traffic of the South London Tramways, and to link up by a direct Line several of the most important Railway termini." The
Metropolitan Railway (MR), London's first underground railway, which operated between Paddington and Euston over the northern section of the
Inner Circle since 1863, saw the BS&WR's two northern extensions as competition for its own service and strongly objected. Parliament accepted the objections; when the '''''' (
62 & 63 Vict. c. cxcii) received royal assent on 1 August 1899, only the extension of time and the route change at Waterloo were approved.
BS&WR bill, 1900 In November 1899, the BS&WR announced a bill for the 1900 session. Again, an extension was proposed from Marylebone to Paddington, this time terminating to the east of the mainline station at the junction of Bishop's Road (now Bishop's Bridge Road) and
Gloucester Terrace. A station was planned under Bishop's Road, linked to the mainline station by a subway under Eastbourne Terrace. From Waterloo, an extension was planned to run under
Westminster Bridge Road and
St George's Road to terminate at Elephant and Castle. The BS&WR would connect there with the C&SLR's station as the NC&WR planned two years earlier. A spur was to be provided to a depot and power station that were to be constructed on the site of the School for the Indigent Blind south of St George's Circus. The Paddington extension was aligned to allow a westward extension to continue to
Royal Oak or
Willesden, areas already served by the MR, which again opposed the plans. This time, the BS&WR was successful and royal assent for the extensions was granted in the '''''' (
63 & 64 Vict. c. ccxxv) on 6 August 1900.
Minor changes, 1902–04 To make up for the time lost following the collapse of the L&GFC and to restore the BS&WR's finances, the company published a bill in November 1901, which sought another extension of time and permission to change its funding arrangements. The bill was approved as the '''''' (
2 Edw. 7. c. cclv) on 18 November 1902. For the 1903 parliamentary session, the UERL announced bills for the BS&WR and its other tube railways, seeking permission to merge the three companies by transferring the BS&WR's and CCE&HR's powers to the
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR). The BS&WR bill also included requests for a further extension of time and for powers to compulsorily purchase land for an electrical sub-station at Lambeth. The merger was rejected by Parliament, but the land purchase and extension of time were permitted separately in the '
(3 Edw. 7. c. clxii) and the ' (
3 Edw. 7. c. ccxvi), both given royal assent on 11 August 1903. In the 1904 parliamentary session, the BS&WR sought and received permission for new stations at
Lambeth,
Regent's Park and
Edgware Road.
Construction, 1898–1906 Construction commenced in the summer of 1898 under the direction of Sir
Benjamin Baker (who co-designed the
Forth Bridge),
W.R. Galbraith and R.F. Church. The works were carried out by Perry & Company of Tregedar Works,
Bow. The main construction site was located at a substantial temporary staging pier erected in the River Thames a short distance south of the
Hungerford Bridge. It was described at the time as "a small village of workshops and offices and an electrical generating station to provide the power for driving the machinery and for lighting purposes during construction." The wide stage was located from the Hungerford Bridge's first pier, from the north bank of the Thames. It was originally intended that the work should begin close to the south bank, with a bridge connecting the stage to College Street – a now-vanished road on the site of the present-day
Jubilee Gardens. However, test borings showed that there was a deep depression in the gravel beneath the Thames, which it was speculated was the result of dredging carried out for the abortive Charing Cross & Waterloo Railway project. This led to the work site being relocated to the north side of the river. Two
caissons were sunk into the river bed below the stage. From there, the tunnels were constructed in each direction using
Barlow-
Greathead tunnelling shields of a similar design to those used to construct the C&SLR. The north tunnel was constructed first, commencing in February 1899, followed by the south tunnel from March 1900. This was technically the most difficult stage of the project, as it necessitated tunnelling under the river. The tunnellers worked in an atmosphere of compressed air at up to to prevent water leaking into the excavations. On several occasions, however, the tunnel was breached and escaping air caused "blowouts", producing water spouts up to high above the surface of the river. One such blowout disrupted
Doggett's Coat and Badge race. By using the river as the centre of tunnelling operations, the company was able to remove excavated soil onto barges and bring in required material the same way, thus avoiding having to transport large amounts of material through the streets. Tunnelling also took place from station sites, notably at Piccadilly Circus. The tunnellers worked with a remarkable degree of accuracy given the technology of the time; the tunnel being driven north from the Thames eventually reached the one being dug south from Piccadilly Circus, meeting under
Haymarket, with a deviation of only three-quarters of an inch (1.9 cm). The tunnel linings were formed from cast iron segments inch (2.22 cm) thick, which locked together to form a ring with an internal diameter of . Once a ring was completed,
grout was injected through holes in the segments to fill any voids between the outside edge of the ring and the excavated ground beyond, reducing
subsidence. By November 1899 the northbound tunnel reached Trafalgar Square and work on some of the station sites was started, but the collapse of the L&GFC in 1900 led to works gradually coming to a halt. When the UERL was constituted in April 1902, 50 per cent of the tunnelling and 25 per cent of the station work was completed. With funds in place, work restarted and proceeded at a rate of per week, so that by February 1904 virtually all of the tunnels and underground parts of the stations between Elephant & Castle and Marylebone were complete and works on the station buildings were under way. The additional stations were incorporated as work continued elsewhere and Oxford Circus station was altered below ground following a
Board of Trade inspection; at the end of 1905, the first test trains began running. Although the BS&WR had permission to continue to Paddington, no work was undertaken beyond Edgware Road. The BS&WR used a
Westinghouse automatic signalling system operated through electric
track circuits. This controlled signals based on the presence or absence of a train on the track ahead. Signals incorporated an arm that was raised when the signal was red. If a train failed to stop at a red signal, the arm activated a "
tripcock" on the train, applying the brakes automatically. Stations were provided with surface buildings designed by architect
Leslie Green in the UERL house-style. This consisted of two-storey steel-framed buildings faced with red glazed
terracotta blocks, with wide semi-circular windows on the upper floor. They were designed with flat roofs to enable additional storeys to be constructed for commercial occupants, maximising the
air rights of the property. Except for Embankment, which had a sloping passageway down to the platforms, each station was provided with between two and four
lifts and an emergency spiral staircase in a separate shaft. At platform level, the wall tiling featured the station name and an individual geometric pattern and colour scheme designed by Green. It was originally intended that the electrical supply to the line and stations would be provided by a dedicated generating station at St George's Road, Southwark. This idea was abandoned in 1902 and electricity was instead provided by
Lots Road Power Station, operated by the UERL. Six ventilation fans were installed along the line to draw 18,500 cubic feet per minute through the tunnels and out through exhausts placed on the roof of the stations. Fresh air was drawn back down from the surface via the lift and staircase shafts, thus replenishing the air in the tunnels. To reduce the risk of fire, the station platforms were built of concrete and iron and the sleepers were made from the fireproof Australian wood
Eucalyptus marginata or jarrah. The design of the
permanent way was a departure from that of London's previous tube railways, which used track laid on timber baulks across the tunnel with the bottom of the tube left open. This approach caused what the BS&WR's management regarded as an unacceptable level of vibrations. They resolved this by mounting the sleepers on supports made of sand and cement grout, with the sleeper ends resting on comparatively soft broken stone ballast underneath the running rails. A drain ran parallel with the rails underneath the middle of the track. The rails themselves were unusually short – only long – as this was the maximum length that could be brought in through the shafts and then turned horizontally to be carried into the tunnels. Power was supplied through third (positive) and fourth (negative) rails laid in the middle and outside of the track, as used on the
District Railway. == Opening ==